Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (2009) Rated PG-13 Julie & Julia is a film that should be relished with gusto -- accompanied by the freshest and best ingredients, pounds of butter, and bottles of the very best wine. It lovingly celebrates the life of one of American food's most influential and beloved figureheads: Julia Child -- played here with zest, humor, and a sweet, subtle respect by Meryl Streep, whose performance is spectacular. ... Julie Powell, a frustrated New York bureaucrat who wants to be a writer ... gives herself a challenge: to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and to blog about it ... [T]he film [is] so involving and rewarding ... [and] a recipe for something truly sublime. -- A.T. Hurley