Doesn’t Figure

A 7.28 N.Y. Times article by Kim Severson made a big to-do about the natural-looking, presumably mouth-watering capturings of various gourmet dishes in Nora Ephron‘s Julie & Julia. This resulted from Ephron being a devoted life-long foodie as well as from the exacting attentions of Susan Spungen, the movie’s food stylist.

Why, then, did Variety‘s Justin Chang write that the film disappoints by failing to offer “glorious culinary eye candy on the level of Babette’s Feast or Eat Drink Man Woman“? He also noted that “whatever auds make of Julie & Julia, it’s hard to imagine that Child herself, an unapologetic Francophile with one hell of an appetite, would have been much of a fan.”

14 thoughts on “Doesn’t Figure

  1. I can’t imagine Child sitting down and watching a Nora Ephron movie.

    Then again, I can’t imagine anyone sitting down and watching a Nora Ephron movie.

  2. Susan Spungen, food stylist? The only Spungen I’d ever heard of before was Nancy Spungen, Sid Vicious’s American girlfriend.

    Lo and behold, it turns out Susan Spungen is indeed Nancy Spungen’s younger sister. Nancy Spungen’s Wikipedia entry mentions a younger sister Susan. Google turns up Susan Spungen’s wedding announcement in the NY Times — she’s four years younger than Nancy Spungen and the parents’ names match. The wedding announcement does not mention Susan Spungen’s connection with Nancy Spungen, who sounds as if she was pretty severely mentally ill even before she got mixed up with Sid.

    Setting a bed on fire would probably help add some excitement to this movie.

  3. Spurred by the first comment, I looked up the “films” of Nora Ephron to check out what she has directed and found this list of modern-day classics:

    Bewitched
    Lucky Numbers
    You’ve Got Mail
    Michael
    Mixed Nuts
    Sleepless in Seattle
    This Is My Life

    Apart from Sleepless, which was bearable, how does this woman keep finding directing gigs?

  4. Since the audience is going to be made up of people whose idea of cooking is heating up a Weight Watchers in a microwave, it doesn’t matter.

  5. Of all the disturbing cultural trends of the last twenty years or so, the fetishizing of food ranks right up there, and I’m not talking about by fatties.

  6. “You’ve Got Mail is decent entertainment. The last time Hanks was charming.”

    Catch Me If You Can? Wasn’t exactly “charming” in Road to Perdition, but he was pretty good. Found him pretty phenomenal in Castaway (even though I felt the movie had some problems as a whole). I’m sorry but I just couldn’t let this comment go.

  7. Prager, you are right about that! Who knows ,maybe the studio should have Streep on the boxes of these horrible meals, thereby to sell more of them.
    Tom Hanks in The Terminal. Not bad,especially eating the ketchup on the crackers, don’t think that’s in Julie & Julia.
    I hope I don’t have to endure the endless b.s. about Streep getting and Oscar Nomination. At least I hope not.

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