When I was about 8 years old, my grandmother (who was also my after school babysitter) was admitted to a nursing home. Thus began my latch-keydom. Luckily I was a well-behaved child (aka a goody-goody) and so I would always walk straight home after school, make the requisite call to mom to let her know I'd walked straight home from school and then I'd do my homework. Once that was done, I'd have time to kill until Mom got off work. It was during this time that Julia Child became my babysitter.

Now, she wasn't physically in my home, taking care of me and making sure I didn't drink the Drano but I would watch television, as children left to their own devices are occasionally wont to do, and her show just so happened to be on PBS at the right time. I became addicted to watching her cook, to her wonderfully milky voice and her genuine enthusiasm for whatever dish she happened to be preparing during each show. That was where my love for cooking shows began. Julia Child has always held a special place in my childhood memories.

So when my friend and hair stylist guru asked me if I'd like to attend an advance screening of Julie and Julia (he's got a friend at Sony who hooks him up with tickets from time to time), I of course enthusiastically said yes. Last night The Nephew and I went and saw the movie and it was absolutely wonderful. I took The Nephew because he loves cooking and watches Food Network a fair bit so I figured he'd enjoy it. He really liked it and said it's now one of his favorite movies.

It's not surprising that the best part of the movie is the storyline involving Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci as Julia and Paul Child. Meryl Streep truly becomes Julia and her voice is dead-on. It was interesting to see the various ways that Meryl (who is 5' 6" tall) was made to appear as tall as Julia had been (6' 2"). But honestly, the way Julia and Paul were portrayed and the incredible support and love they had for each other was truly wonderful to behold. Nora Ephron is a master at this kind of feel good human comedy and she was certainly in her element in this film.

The Amy Adams and Chris Messina storyline was okay but not nearly so engaging. It seemed to me that at times, Amy's portrayal embodied a little too much Meg Ryan at her prime. Many of her gestures, her voice and even her hairstyle are incredibly reminiscient of Meg Ryan. Perhaps it's an unfair comparison seeing as Meg has been in several Nora Ephron movies but I really didn't expect to see the similarities so it was a bit of a surprise.

At any rate, for a beautifully done feel good comedy that doesn't hit you over the head with the romantic parts but instead lets them weave throughout the story of these two couples, definitely check Julie and Julia out when it's in wide release. That said, I haven't been able to stop seeing Julia's Paris whenever I close my eyes.