I love cooking.  There's nothing I enjoy better than getting home after a long day at work and venting my frustrations on a cake, or a pie, or some complicated steak dish.  I love to cook and eat what I cook, and I'm not one of those people whose mother taught her to cook, either.  I'm of the mind that anyone can learn to cook if they put their minds to it, but my mom wasn't one of those people willing to try.  I had to teach myself to cook in college, and I utilized cook books and cooking shows to give me ideas and inspiration.  As such, I LOVE Julia Child, and I'm a huge Food Network geek, so when I heard about this movie, I was very eager to see it.  I
must say that I loved the movie and it was worth the wait, but all of that said,

I'm not sure if someone who doesn't enjoy cooking or watching cooking shows will get as much out of this movie as I did, because it's very much a food geek's paradise (for instance, there's a lot of name dropping, and the names of chefs are mentioned in such rapid-fire succession that some of the people in the theater kept saying “who's that?”)  None of this takes away from the movie for me, but just a warning: we foodies finally have a movie to totally geek out over, and those of you who don't care as much about cooking might not appreciate it as much as we do. The movie starts out by introducing us to its main characters.  One of them, chef Julia Child, is known throughout the world for de-mystifying the art of cooking.  Before Julia Child came along, a lot of people thought that fine cooking was simply something that they couldn't do at home, until Julia Child entered the scene with her exuberance, her reassuring manner, and her motto (“Don't be afraid”).

Meryl Streep is simply a joy to watch in this movie.  She fully embodies the character of Julia Child and she makes the character endearing even for those who don't remember watching Julia Child while they were growing up like I did.  Stanley Tucci also does a great job here embodying Paul Child, Julia's doting husband.  Their relationship is adorable to watch here, and it's clear that Paul's love and encouragement helped inspire Julia to keep going, even when publishers in the U.S. Didn't initially think that her book would sell.  Wouldn't you hate to be the publisher that turned down Julia Child's book? Seriously?  Talk about missing the boat.  That sense of greatness and talent waiting to be discovered permeates the scenes of Julia's life before she became famous, and the audience is swept away, rooting for her to make it (at least I know I was).

The second main character on display here is modern-day Julie Powell, harried New York cubicle dweller who toils away at her often thankless job by day and escapes at night by coming home and cooking (hey, look everyone, a movie about me).  I've read reviews for this movie that didn't appreciate the character of Julie Powell, saying that she is ordinary and boring and that her story doesn't stand up to that of Julia Child, but I have to disagree.  The fact that Julie Powell is so ordinary is what makes her relatable, and for everyone who goes to work, gritting their teeth at their jobs everyday, only to come home and work out their frustrations and creativity by cooking, here is a character to whom we can really relate.  I love watching Julie Powell trying to boil live lobsters, or attempting to overcome her fear of boning a duck.  I, too, have stood in the kitchen, impatiently waiting to see if one of my creations  will turn out to be as delicious as I've hoped it would be, so her scenes are just as endearing for me as those with Julia Child.

Perhaps the movie simply isn't for everyone, I don't know.  The people in my showing seemed to appreciate it as much as I did, which tells me that there may be more of us foodies out there than a lot of reviewers realize (of course I watch the Food Network religiously, so I already knew that).  This is one of those niche movies that although a broad spectrum of people are capable of watching and enjoying it, it might only truly resonate with a smaller group, those of us who love cooking and are thankful to Julia Child for opening the door and showing we normal people that anyone can cook, those of us who are going to be excited to see Julie Powell live up to this legacy onscreen.  People who don't enjoy cooking might never understand why I sat in the theater and cheered when Julie's recipes turned out, and for those people, this movie might be pointless, but I for one loved every minute.

Hey fellow foodies, looks like someone finally made a movie for us!  Bon appetit!