Julie and Julia (2009)

"Based on two true stories," writer and director Nora Ephron tells the parallel stories of two women from different generations who were in many ways icons of their popular culture. Julia Child (1912–2004) was stuck in Paris with her diplomat husband when she decided to learn French cooking. That experience turned into her famous book Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) and her television show The French Chef that premiered in 1963. Flash forward to 2001 and Julie Powell (b. 1973), who was stuck in an office cubicle with a mind-numbing job. To battle her boredom, in 2002 she cooked all the recipes in Child's book in one year, blogged about it, and, when the blog became a sensation, published her own book called Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (2005). The film switches back and forth between the two stories. The two cooks never met; Child dismissed Powell's project as a crass stunt that missed the whole point of the joy and leisure of French cooking. Meryl Streep has received rave reviews for her portrayal of Child, but for many viewers the recipe for this film lacked quality ingredients.