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Julie & Julia
EMAILPRINTColumbia Pictures (Sony)

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 34 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 89 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Nora Ephron
Directed by: Nora Ephron
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 7, 2009
DVD: December 8, 2009
Running Time: 123 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality
Starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, and Linda Emond
Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends...until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible. (Sony Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New Yorker David Denby
One of the gentlest, most charming American movies of the past decade. Its subject is less food as something to cook than food as the binding and unifying element of dinner parties, friendship, and marriage.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Even if you don't give a shiitake mushroom about food, there's much to savor in this lively comedy with dramatic aftertastes.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It hooks you up, happily, to your inner top chef.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Julie & Julia makes deboning a duck a feminist act and cooking a great meal a creative triumph. The stakes may not be as high as the kill-or-be-killed suspense of a summer action movie, but the sauces are way tastier.
Read Full Review >Empire Staff (Not credited)
Deliciously funny and warming fare, for which the amazing Meryl deserves her ridiculously overdue third Oscar.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A consummate entertainment that echoes the rhythms and attitudes of classic Hollywood, it's a satisfying throwback to those old-fashioned movie fantasies where impossible dreams do come true. And, in this case, it really happened. Twice.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Julie & Julia proceeds with such ease and charm that its audacity -- is easy to miss.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Streep isn't playing Julia Child here, but something both more elusive and more truthful -- she's playing our IDEA of Julia Child.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
There's very little doubt in my mind that somewhere, culinary legend Julia Child is fuming about being consigned to a double bio-pic with a whiny, self-centered cooking blogger.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Meryl Streep -- at her brilliant, beguiling best -- is the spice that does the trick for the yummy Julie & Julia.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Few movies are as delightful as Julie & Julia.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
The result is a movie that, in its best moments, is delightful. It does lose a significant amount of steam halfway through -- likely due in part to its two hours of running time.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kate Taylor
The film is at its best in scenes set in Europe in the 1950s – the protracted genesis of "Mastering the Art" provides the drama here.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
One can’t help but wonder if Ephron would’ve been better off focusing exclusively on Child: She’s simply more interesting screen company.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
This is blissful moviemaking. Much of the pleasure we have in watching it comes from seeing Tucci and, obviously, Streep connect.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
In Julie and Julia, Ephron, like her heroines, has finally found what suits her: a surprising comic and romantic realism.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
Streep is astonishing, conveying Child's gusto, her quavering voice, even her height.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
As enjoyable as this foodie movie is, you wish it would take a deeper, more nuanced measure of the women who, in two different eras, star in the movie's kitchens.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Julie & Julia is full of holes, but you don't even care when Streep is onscreen.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Streep is the most important ingredient in this recipe.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
There are many things wrong with Julie and Julia but, if you're looking to get hitched, you won't find a better booster.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The marriage of these two tales, however, should have ended in divorce court.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
You know the feeling you get when you make a meal of two mildly savory appetizers that don't quite go together, and you leave you wishing you'd eaten one hefty entrée? That's Julie & Julia. Half an hour later, I wanted to watch another movie.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie could have used a few more scenes focusing on Child at work in the kitchen -- a few more scenes with Child doing anything, really.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Julie & Julia is not lacking in entertainment value, especially with the Streep performance. But if the men had been portrayed as more high-spirited, it might have taken on intriguing dimensions.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A movie that soars whenever Child is on the screen and sags when Powell shows up.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
One keeps waiting for the title characters' lives to intersect, but when they finally do--with a reporter asking Powell to comment on Child's disparaging remarks about her--Ephron scurries away from the moment and its implications.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
Beyond "Streep camp," Julie and Juila falls into the drone of current historical movies, namely, the time-travel period treatment.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
It was the best of movies. It was the worst of movies. Which is to say: There's half of a great movie in Julie & Julia.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
This middling melange of Child biopic and contempo dramedy feels overstuffed and predigested as it depicts two ladies who found fame and fulfillment in their respective eras by cooking and writing about it.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Two movies in one. That’s one more movie than it needs to be.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Strangely, though, there isn't enough for one movie, and the first clue to why lurks in the title's ampersand, a sort of linguistic duct tape holding together two stories that never really function as one.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
A romantic comedy, too, but this time the romance is between two women, and one of them, truth be told, is a dud.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 89 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Dana M gave it an8:
Entertaining movie. Worth seeing on the big screen. It definitely has a feel goodness about it.
Mark D gave it a2:
I got in to see this movie free and STILL feel cheated! Two hours of Meryl Streep rolling around the screen like a barroom drunk on helium, and this a blessed relief from the whiney Amy Adams and her insipid man accessory's dope-with-a-heart act. Nora Ephron directs with all the subtlety of a road side burger van vendor, add a bucket of syrup, a few lades of cheese and serve; guaranteed nausea!
Carolyn M. gave it an8:
The premise seemed ridiculous to us, but both my husband and I saw this last night and were completely charmed. And of course Meryl Streep can do anything and everything, and does it here.
David B. gave it an8:
Tremendous fun. Lots of warm, affectionate laughs. Very human. Meryl Steep channels Julia Childs.
Lee R. gave it a9:
Streep and Tucci are fantastic actors. Both are so versitile and seemingly effortlessly recreate the characters they portray. It is unfortunate that Mr. Tucci is not given the billing recognition that he merits as a "co-star". Without these two, the movie itself could not rate higher than 3 stars.
james m gave it an8:
A very enjoyable movie. Meryl Streep plays another life-affirming role with audacity and style. The younger couple were a tad annoying, but otherwise a real treat...not just the food!
Kristen T. gave it a10:
If you're a foodie, a woman, middle-aged, tall, and independent of mind you will love this movie. Can't think of the last time I saw a movie with women in the leads that was as well made. It's funny, poignant and well crafted. Nothing blows up, no one is shot. Not every movie has too appeal to adolescent male movie goers. Support a fine woman director and a great movie about the lives of two women -- a rare thing these days.
