August
2009
Julie and Julia0
Kyle and I typically enjoy the same movies. Wait, let me re-phrase that – He likes most of the movies that I like, but I don’t like many of the movies he likes. I’m actually surprised that I let him drag me to see Star Trek earlier this summer. Against my good judgment I allowed myself to be persuaded into thinking that I would indeed enjoy the movie. I like Star Wars, this couldn’t be too different right? Plus, Simon Pegg is in it- can’t go wrong! Well, it did go wrong – it went terribly, terribly wrong. So, in order to make amends for making me waste my precious summer hours sitting through that, Kyle agreed to take me to a movie of my choosing. Well, pay back is a bitch, so I decided to choose the chickiest of chick films out right now: Julie and Julia.
I want to say that I absolutely adored the movie, but I can’t. What I can say is this: I absolutely adored the half of the movie that dealt with Julia Child, and I loathed the other half that dealt with Julie. Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child was simply unforgettable (pardon me for sounding like a movie critic there, but it’s true! I can’t get Julia’s voice out of my mind. I keep thinking about her attempts at speaking French, and I laugh out loud!). Every word she uttered was absolutely heartwarming. My eyes welled up with tears of delight several times throughout the film (as did Kyle’s). The scenes involving Julia and her sister were hilarious. I told Kyle I wish I could watch those two chit-chat all day long (one of my favorite scenes is when the two of them are looking at themselves in the mirror and Julia says, “not too bad” (long pause) “but not too good either!”). Julia was truly inspiring – not only for carving her way through a male-dominated field, but also for maintaining an amazing attitude, even when faced with enormous obstacles. She is clearly someone I would like to model myself after.
Julie, on the other hand, was a complete mess from start to finish. I don’t know if it was the horrible actress that played her, or if it was simply the character that I did not like (or perhaps a nasty combination of both), but I could not stand that woman. I didn’t find the character likable in the least bit. She was selfish, narcissistic, and immature, and I wasn’t really sold on the idea that she grew or learned anything by the end of the film. I think they tried to make her likable by making her “cute,” but that cuteness made me sick to my stomach more than anything. Her character was such a contrast to Julia that I started to get confused about the intent of the film. It seems like they were trying to draw parallels between the two women’s lives, but all I could see was how different they were. Julia handled disappointments with grace, while Julie handled them by throwing big baby fits. And while Julie admits that Julia clearly had more grace than she did, I felt that it was too little too late (I just shuddered as I wrote those words – those are the same words that my advanced comp teacher wrote about one of my papers!). Oddly enough, I felt the same way about the husbands. I couldn’t stand Julie’s husband (him leaving for days on end without calling Julie is inexcusable – and then he’s made to be a hero when he returns – barf!), and I adored Julia’s husband (played by Stanley Tucci), who was so supportive of his quirky wife, and he truly looked at her with admiration and respect.
Honestly, I think this all has to do with the sub-par actress who played Julie. She narrated a lot of the film, and it was just terrible. I may be a nerd for noticing stuff like this, but it makes my skin crawl when films are narrated by poor actors. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to narrate a film, but truly good actors can do it (think Morgan Freeman, the grand-daddy of narrators). Streep’s narration was of course flawless. Luckily Streep was able to carry the film. Despite half of it being extremely irritating, Streep’s performance had me leaving the theater with a big smile on my face – which is really rare, so that has to say something. Kyle enjoyed the movie as well- he basically had the same reaction that I did. Once again, I chose a movie that we both like…
Next up: District 9. I agreed to go to this one next since I chose Julie and Julia. I hope I’m not making a huge mistake…