@Darwin: Read this by A.O. Scott in today’s NYT. Scott is as ecstatic as he might be while eating your almond puff paste. Paul (Stanley Tucci) is convincingly short.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/07/movies/07julie.html?th&emc=th?em
Samples:
” By now this actress (Streep) has exhausted every superlative that exists and to suggest that she has outdone herself is only to say that she’s done it again. Her performance goes beyond physical imitation, though she has the rounded shoulders and the fluting voice down perfectly.”
“In Mr. Tucci Ms. Streep finds….. a perfect foil. Like the character he plays, he is gallant and self-assured and able to assert a strong sense of his own presence even as he happily cedes the center of attention. Together, their mastery of the art is so perfect that even quiet, transitional scenes between them are delightful. (And when Jane Lynch shows up as Dorothy, Julia’s sister, the delight ascends to an almost indecent level of giddiness).
If only Mr. Tucci and Ms. Streep were in every movie, I thought to myself at one point, as, in a state of rapture, I watched them sit still on a couch looking off into space.”
“Julia Child could whip up a navarin of lamb (see my comment… #7) for lunch, but Meryl Streep eats young actresses (Amy Adams as Julie) for breakfast.”