Butter. Yummy...This is a charming movie that on the surface is about food and romance, but beneath, it's really about where we draw our passion in life from and where we place our priorities. The answer the movie suggests is: love. Joy from being loved, living a life well-loved, and finding a way to pour this into what we do and why we do it.
It's a very powerful message at a time when people are driven by self-serving personal ambition and heartily encouraged to do so in the culture. Julia Child is inspiring simply for her determination to succeed but the movie suggests it's never at the expense of others, rather on her own merits and that she was known for being warm and congenial even in difficult situations (something Ackroyd picked up on in his famous SNL sketch which is briefly shown).
It's also a beautiful love story: gigantic Julia Child (played to perfection by Meryl Streep) and her much shorter husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci), delight in each other - yes, it's a bit of a chick-flick, but it goes enough against the typical formula that it deserves special commendation. And it makes you very, very hungry. I am already a burgeoning foodie, so this was foodie movie heaven for me.
Amy Adams (so fun in Enchanted) is always fun to watch perform, but Streep and Tucci are really the stars here. Streep really is wonderful, but I'm sure she won't get an award simply because she's not grilling priests or dealing with Terribly Shocking Subject Matter. I'm not one of those people that runs out to see a movie just because she is in it, but Streep admits in interviews she "ate" her way through this role, so I hope she enjoyed using the Method for once.
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