As a British viewer (possibly a rather ignorant one!) who did not know the Julia and Julie story, I found this movie absorbing and entertaining and one which did not outstay its welcome, lengthy as it was. The story is pretty well told in other reviews. Period detail for the Julia Child side of it is well caught, and Meryl Streep's performance is an absolute tour de force - she commands the screen whenever she appears. Another reviewer found Amy Adams bland as Julie, and I absolutely disagree with that. I thought she was charming and most sympathetic, as she needs to be if the film is to work at all, because it is her story that brings in the Julia Child story, and indeed this is the film of her book. All the performances are assured and convincing, and the screenplay, by Nora Ephron, is often witty and amusing (there is a very good joke even in the end credits) - never laugh-out-loud humour, but more subtle and more satisfying than that. What's there not to like? Another reviewer isn't turned on by fine cooking - well, neither am I, but there's a lot more to this film than that. Indeed it is not really a film about cooking but about two women in different times who set out to do something and become absorbed in it to the point of takeover, and that brings its own problems and triumphs. In the end, this is a feel-good film, a good one, and I like feeling good - so I liked the film.