Julie & Julia

One more two-word recommendation: Meryl Streep – ’nuff said. It’s not that I have any familiarity with the real Julia Child, but Streep’s embodiment of her is pure joy in itself, deep and funny. Stanley Tucci is the perfect accompaniment, a delicious side dish as Julia’s husband. The critical consensus is correct -- one half of this dual story thoroughly outshines the other. As appealing as Amy Adams is, I found her vaguely annoying in the role of Julie, a would-be writer dying on the vine in Queens until she gets the idea of cooking her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 365 days, and blogging about it the while. Of her husband, it is kinder to say nothing. Nora Ephron negotiates the back and forth reasonably well, but 1949 Paris comes though much more engagingly than 2002 New York. Just so, one delightful portrait of an unlikely marriage -- between a fluting giantess and her small bald husband -- renders the other completely superfluous. (2009, dvd) *7-* (MC-66)