DadReaction: Julie & Julia

It gets my award for most JOYFUL movie of the year. Grinning the whole time. The mod. story (about the blogger) has been sort of carped at by reviewers, but I thought Adams and the guy were v. believable and funny and neurotic–I mean, the stories, eras, women are different but, boy I’d say Adams held her own with Streep. Of course, Streep is getting the praise and she is super–esp. playing such an outsized, well known drama queen like Julia Child. Great impersonation, but she’s in the character–you laugh and cry with her, fight with her.

I thought all the humor was very character driven and not contrived (as in the romcoms of the summer–TheProposal and themoviethatmustneverbenamed), and I thought both lives were very gently led to the paths they took. Back and forth between the eras very good too–and interestingly, both eras have a grim background: 9-11 with the mod story and the McCarthy witchhunt in the Child story.

So you get this genuine search for joy in ordinary life, no matter what the world’s doing, which is of course how we all live. And the movie takes you to the joy. Highly recommended.

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