DVDs in Review

Julie and Julia

Title: Julie and Julia (2009)

Release date: March 8 2010

Certificate: 12

Format: Reviewed on DVD, available on Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £19.99

Rating: 3/5

Coming in just in time for both Meryl Streep's Oscar nomination and Mothering Sunday is the DVD release of 'Julie and Julia', in a package that also boasts an extract of Julia Child's pioneering French cookbook 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'.

Julia Child was the eccentric chef who was prone to disaster in the kitchen, but her sabotaged culinary sensations backed up with genuine insight into French cooking made her a household name. Streep plays her with all of these eccentricities intact.

Jumping forward some decades, Amy Adams plays Julie Powell - a struggling writer who decides to work her way through Julia's cookbook (of over 500 recipes) in 365 days. Her internet blog chronicling these events slowly becomes a sensation, making her a modern day eccentric chef in her own right.

Nora Ephron's film cunningly mixes these diverse, yet similar at heart, ingredients for her film. It's a movie that comes bursting with flavour and loving little touches, but almost completely devoid of substance, and it may be sacrilege to say, but it also boasts a bad performance from Meryl Streep.

She may be the most Oscar nominated actress in screen history (and she bagged one for this film, too) but here Streep is overblown and too kooky for her own good. Fans of her work will relish the chance to see her let go and have fun (albeit less fun than in 'Mamma Mia!'), but in terms of the actual film, if the role had been played the same way by an unknown actress wouldn't someone have said "that's overacting… no chance of an Oscar nod there"?

Amy Adams on the other hand is the dark horse of the picture - she's given a far more lightweight, unsubstantial character of basically a fan on a loose mission, but she injects warmth, humour and the odd bit of frustration to a role that seems to be almost like painting by numbers.   

Still, this is a fun film and will resonate more with fans of either famed cook than it will with general audiences. It's an interesting attempt at bridging two characters, but one that has no real connection.

What's to stop a man with a moustache and a Ferrari from channelling Tom Selleck in 'Magnum PI' for a year and writing a blog on the subject? Nothing, but perhaps that's the point of the film - it only takes some relatively uninspired ingredients to create something delicious and 'Julie and Julia' certainly is that. Just don't watch it if you're hungry. Speaking of which, be sure to pick up the DVD with the inspiring free recipe book!