Before Food Network, before Anthony Bourdain, before Emeril, before … well anyone cooking  on TV there was Julia Child. She is the godmother of the celebrity chef’s that have so taken over popular culture.  Like many of my generation I grew up watching her program on PBS (along with the Raging Cajun chef Justin Wilson).

This past weekend I went to an afternoon matinee of the new move Julie & Julia about a struggling writer’s need to channel Julia Child to have meaning in her life.  The film is based on two books, Julie Power’s “Julie & Julia” and Julia Child’s memoir “My Life In France” about her time in post WWII Paris and Marseilles when she was working on her classic tome on French cooking. 

Julie (Amy Adams) decides that spending exactly one year cooking all 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and writing a blog about the adventure will provide her the focus she needs to jumpstart her life/career. The Julia (Meryl Steep) portion of the film deals with her efforts to break into the old boys cooking club at Le Cordon Blue and her struggles to write a French cook book that is accessible to Americans.

 Honestly the reason to see the film is because of Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child. She is simply amazing to watch and the film lights up whenever she is on screen. Amy Adams does a fine job as the modern day writer, but the film seems diminished whenever the focus shifts off Child.

To be fair Streep has the more compelling storyline. Her Julia battles chauvinism, a publishing industry that doesn’t understand what she is trying to accomplish with her book and a larger than life personality that outshines those around her. Steep completly inhabits the spirit of Julia Child. And thumbs up to Stanley Tucci as her understanding and patient husband Paul. He is one of the best actors around - you must watch his performance as Primo in “Big Night” if you are any type of foodie at all. (As an aside the companion cookbook for the film “Cucina & Famiglia : Two Italian Families Share Their Stories, Recipes, And Traditions” is excellent and has the recipe for the film’s famous big feast centerpiece Timpano.)

Below is an interview Streep does with Harry Smith of Good Morning America: