Writer-director Nora Ephron is no stranger to taking two separate stories and melding them into one movie. Her film resume includes “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail.”

This dramatic biopic proves that anything is possible with the right combination of passion, ambition, fearlessness and butter. The movie jumps back and forth, splitting the two-hour running time between the lives of two women separated by time and space.

Before Julia “Bon appétit!” Child (multiple Oscar winner Meryl Streep) became famous as America’s first food celebrity, she was a bored housewife searching for something to occupy her time. The movie opens with this extremely tall redhead with a distinctive voice savoring the smell of butter at a Paris restaurant in 1949. Her devoted husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci in a bit of ironic casting having previously starred in” Big Night,” another film focusing on gourmet food preparation), took an assignment as an exhibits officer for the U.S. State Department at the American embassy.

Julia’s exposure to fine cuisine led her to enroll in an all-male class for professional chefs at the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. She meets Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle and the three collaborate in writing an accessible French cookbook for servantless American middle-class housewives.

The main thrust of this segment is the effort to get the manuscript published. The title of this 734-page bestseller containing 524 recipes was “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” It is the linchpin tying the two stories together.

Thirty-year-old Julie Powell (Amy Adams from “Doubt,” “Enchanted” and “Junebug”) is a mid-level government bureaucrat dealing in 2002 with the after-effects of Sept. 11. She sits in an office cubicle overlooking the crater that was once the World Trade Center taking telephone calls from claimants who suffered losses from the tragedy.

She lives with her loving husband, Eric (Chris Messing), in a Queens apartment above a pizzeria. She is an insecure lost soul who has never finished any project that she began.

Julie finds comfort in cooking and decides to cook her way through Julia Child’s entire cookbook in one year and write a daily blog about it.

Both stories include narration from the characters. There are a few black-and-white clips from Julia’s television cooking show. The funniest scene is the Saturday Night Live skit with Dan Ackroyd imitating Julia and cutting himself in the process.

The modern-day story seems mundane. It could have been shortened and utilized as a framing device for going deeper into the archives. The Julia Child portion has too narrow a focus and the film leaves you wanting to know more about this outgoing dynamic individual.

The movie offers just quick glimpses of many tantalizing recipes to whet your appetite. Each separate story begins on a high note, but both run out of steam.

Meryl Streep is simply stupendous in the lead role and the main reason to see the movie. Her classy impersonation is worthy of year-end awards recognition. The cute, auburn-haired Adams gains your sympathetic allegiance as she attempts to complete this arduous task.

Jane Lynch (“A Mighty Wind”) makes the most of her limited screen time as Julia’s equally tall sister Dorothy. Oscar-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “The Queen”) provides a wonderful soundtrack of familiar songs. The set designs and costumes offer a nostalgic look at Paris in the early 1950s.

Ephron’s screen adaptation is based on two bestselling memoirs, “My Life in France” (by Child) and “Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously” (by Powell).

Review By:
Keith Cohen "The Movie Guy"

Review Below By:
Jolene Mendez of JoReviews.com

3 out of 4 Stars

The art of cooking is put to the ultimate test, including the test of marriage, patience and most of all food. Amy Adams and Meryl Streep star in “Julie & Julia” based on Julie Powell’s book “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.” Julie Powell (Adams) is 30-years-old, living in a ramshackle apartment in Queens and is working as a temp in a government office reliving the grief from 09-11 day in – day out. Frustrated that she has nothing extraordinary in her life she decides to take on a challenge and is determined to complete it. Her task is to tackle Julia Child’s (Streep) Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, all 500+ recipes of it. During the process of cooking and blogging Julie is reborn and claims Julia Child saved her soul.

At first the assignment seems simple, how hard can it be to cook these recipes. As she advances from Potage Parmentier (potato soup) into the more complex, she realizes there’s more to Mastering the Art of French Cooking than meets the eye. With a full time job Julie feel’s the stress accumulating, but refusing to give in she listens to Julia’s stern words in her ear and steers forward. Somewhere along the line Julie learns she has turned her kitchen into a phenomenon of cuisine she never found possible, escaping the ordinary into some extraordinary due to her perseverance.

“Julie & Julia” is an inspiring tale of how dedication and hard work can pay out. Julie proves that if you want to create something, you can do it. Writing is a task that does not come easy, but thankfully because of the internet anyone can write, you can find your niche and you will find fans of your writing. That alone is reward enough; I know I have been there. Meryl Streep as Julia Child was entertaining, with her “Bon Appétit” and perfected imitation. The only part I found a little awkward was Julia’s husband, portrayed by Stanley Tucci, due to their previous work in “The Devil Wears Prada” it was a little hard to see them as a true couple. Amy Adams offered a stunning performance filled with emotions. This adorable actress had me relating to her characters frustrations and tribulations. An adorable and entertaining film that is appealing to the appetite. Find out why Julie loved Julia, and why readers came to love Julie as well.