Julie & Julia is a funny and lighthearted biographical film about esteemed American cook Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and aspiring writer and Child fanatic, Julie Powell (Amy Adams). Based on novels written by (in the case of Julie) or for (in the case of Julia) the titular pair, Julie & Julia contrasts their markedly similar lives to flamboyantly funny effect. Following Julia’s rise to cooking fame and Julie’s comeuppance in the writing world through a popular blog dedicated to Julia’s cooking, Julie & Julia laugh, cry, lash out, and screw up up to and beyond their peak stardom. Even though they never meet in person, they share a connection, at least on Julie’s end, that’s both indestructible and invaluable.

The world is cruel to beginning writers. Grueling hours, inconsistent schedules, and little to no chance of recognition (let alone pay) make dedication and adaptability in any creative writing field. While decades apart, both the film’s J-names experience such struggles firsthand. They deal with unpleasant publishers, editors, and those who don’t wish to see them succeed, such as the headmistress at the French cooking school Julia attends in the 1940s and ’50s. Through clever parallel tricks that intertwine their lives, director-writer Nora Ephron sufficiently demonstrates how these decades-apart women developed similar ideals and lifestyles. One such trick is word repetition, frequently used to illustrate the pair’s continuously shaping—but increasingly similar—mindsets. For example, when beginning her blog, Julie claims she writes “for nobody here but us servantless American cooks.” A half-century earlier (though it is never revealed if Julie came to the same thought on her own), Julia comes to the same conclusion about her French cooking for Americans book: “This has got to be a cookbook that makes French cooking accessible to Americans who do not have cooks. Who are servantless. Is that a word?” Such similar ideas, which get further reflected and reinforced in their decades-apart near-identical actions and reactions, illustrates how much they—and people in general—can live markedly indistinguishable lives in their love for cooking and writing.

Streep’s wondrously bubbly performance as the (in)famous Julia Child is also this heartfelt flick’s most substantial perk. From the moment she exaggerates her syllables in her first “Bonjour!” to a worker and the audience, heels clicking almost as loudly as her larger than life, British posh-influenced American accent kicks into full gear, Streep accurately depicts an ever-learning Child and steals the show with her charismatically charged melt into yet another character. It’s no wonder her star power is the focus of Cambridge’s Kendall Square Cinema’s newest Retro Replay spotlight programming; with each role, Streep emulates an entirely separate and unique persona through mannerisms and speech patterns. J&J is no exception as Streep prances through the streets of London with a larger-than-life orientation, tackling the big screen from the kitchen the way Julia Child did the small screen decades earlier. If J&J has nothing else of value, Streep nonetheless steals the show. Julia’s husband Paul (Stanley Tucci), Julie’s husband Eric (Chris Messina), and even Julie herself are delightful presences, but Streep as Julia Child is another level of grounding realism and hilarity.

Unfortunately, while Meryl Streep, J&J‘s jokes, and core themes about living one’s life and their partner’s are solid, the film seems to lose itself quite frequently in the details, especially in the latter half. Several scenes seem almost random, as if Ephron and co. could not decide which details were important and which were not, so they threw them all in and hoped for the best. For example, 10-15 minutes are dedicated to Julia’s mentally identical sister, Dorothy (Jane Lynch). She gets introduced, then there’s a party, the film jumps to her getting married and getting pregnant, so that Julia—squint-eyed, wet-cheeked, and collapsed into her lover’s arms—tear-jerkingly cries out, “Dorothy is pregnant. Isn’t that wonderful?” While the inference that she could not have children and is devastated by that fact is wonderfully impactful, it never comes up again. Maybe in passing, but nothing about how not having kids affects her and Paul’s life. She just goes back to cooking like nothing happened. Several likewise disruptive moments and equally jerky editing significantly hinder J&J from being more than a basic but amusing biographical film. Thus, for comedy, biography flick, cast, or Julia Child fans, Julie & Julia is a fun-loving time, even if it’s a bit of a jumbled mess.

Screens Tuesday, 5/27, 7:00 p.m. @ Landmark Kendall Square Cinema
Part of the ongoing repertory series: Retro Replay: Spotlight on the Versatility of Meryl Streep