Shameless movie plug

Go see Julie and Julia. Marvin K Mooney, will you please GO NOW?!

*Ninja edit: here's a link to the review:
http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/08/julie-and-julia.html

Seriously, go see it. Despite the fact that it was directed by Nora Ephron, this is not a chick flick. I wrote a review of this movie, which I will post a link to later when it is posted, if I'm in a good mood and no longer wish to be (semi) anonymous. As my grandmother would say, "Ha!"

I was expecting a good movie but I wasn't expecting such an interesting one. Based on two books - Julia Child's My Life in France and Julie Powell's Julie and Julia, the movie goes back and forth between the two women's lives. From post-war Paris to modern-day NYC, the two main characters are loved by amazingly supportive (and perhaps too perfect) partners, told by the outside world that they'll never succeed, and then they both do, beyond their wildest dreams.

Not just a you go girl movie - a you go people movie, if you were.

And it's fucking hilarious. I don't want to give too much away, but there is a scene that really happened where Julia compares cannelloni to "hot cocks." I kid you not!

I'm not a foodie, and I have no interest in cooking (as many of you know by now), but watching this made me want to find out more about Julia Child. She was the only woman in a cooking class in Paris, told she would never be successful (hahahaha! she must be laughing on beyond the grave) and she was turned down by Houghton Mifflin after working on her cookbook for eight years.

I bet they've been kicking themselves ever since.

What if she would have given up after that?

What if Julie Powell, who temped for several years while trying to sell a novel, had given up on writing?

It reminded me of what my grandfather always says: "Don't tell yourself no even before someone else tells you no!"

It motivated me to stop being so afraid and start sending my children's book around.

I am inviting all of you to go to Julie Powell's blog and tell her congratulations!

PS Mr. Riot Kitty will also attest to the fact that it was not a chick flick. I had ask him if I had dreamt up the "hot cocks" part, but he said I did not.

PPS For good measure, I have embedded this clip, which Julia Child purported to love so much that she showed it to friends at dinners at her home!