Like a bowl of congee, Julie & Julia gives an instant hit of emotional comfort. In this true story, hard work pays off, people love each other and, as in real life, there's no neat, Hollywood ending. In a world where people are expected to be able to do everything, yet master nothing, it's reassuring to see two women, separated by decades, strive for a goal and reach it.

Julia Child (Meryl Streep) arrives in post-war Paris with her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci), and finds herself bored. She decides to learn French cooking and braves the male-dominated world of Le Cordon Bleu school. After struggling for years to write a cookbook, she finally becomes a household name.

Julie, played by the cute-as-a-button Amy Adams, works in a cubicle and lives above a pizzeria in post-9/11 New York. Wanting a change, she decides to make every recipe in Child's cookery bible, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a year.