JULIE & JULIA

title: JULIE & JULIA
year: 2009
cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams
rating: ***

"That's what's so great about blogs. You don't have to be published. You can just go online, press enter, and there it is, out there." Finer words have never been spoken in a motion picture. This by the husband of working girl Julie Powell, who decided to make every recipe in Julia Child's famous first cookbook... from desserts to ducks and equaling over 500 dishes... in a year's time. And most importantly, to journal them in her very own blog. Meanwhile, the real thing, Julia Child, is shown in Paris in the 1950's learning how to cook and then deciding to write a cook book for "serventless Americans" who yearn to serve French food. The iconic Hollywood actress Meryl Streep obviously savors the role as Child, but her voice and mannerisms often border on imitation. While Amy Adams plays Powell with the kind of spunky animation you'd see in a sitcom. As Child struggles to get her book published, Powell has fewer problems and her blogging seems a mere shortcut to the real work done by her mentor, who, it turns out, wasn't Powell's fan for this very reason. But as a movie, both characters provide an equally interchangeable meat and potatoes to a nice dish that'll keep you interested in either outcome. While you know Child will succeed, and that Powell's blog resulted in the movie being watched, there's still a page-turning intrigue to this duel tale of a legend and her dedicated superfan's clever idea. Because that can be all it takes to climb the fence. Some coattails go a long way.