On Tuesday night Nicole and I attended a sneak preview of the Sony Pictures film, Julie & Julie, which opens nationwide on Thursday, August 7.  I have to give a big thanks to Josh over at Food GPS for the passes.

There are already many reviews and critiques of this movie and I’m sure there will be many more.  I won’t waste your time with another one.  What I will do, is share a few tips and opinions with you to improve your movie watching experience when you see this film.

1.

Don’t watch this movie on an empty stomach.  Its basically two hours of people eating, talking about food, buying groceries, quoting recipes, shopping for cooking utensils, having drinks…you get the idea.  If you come hungry, you’ll end up making a mad dash for the snack bar or binging on beef bourguignon at the nearest French restaurant after you leave the theater .  Either way, you’ll be spending close to $30.

2.

Take note of the PG-13 rating on this movie if you’re thinking of taking your kids to see a “movie about two ladies that cook”.  Yeah, they cook plenty but they also do a little bit more than that with their respective “roosters”.  Both hens are married, though, which makes it easier to explain things. Oh, they also use some strong language but its peppered throughout the film, not heavily seasoned.  The results have a kick though!

3.

If you get upset by people swinging through your kitchen and dipping their finger in the bowl of whatever it is you’re mixing up and then licking it, prepare to be pissed off at least 6 times throughout the course of this film.  I swear I wanted to slap ’em silly but that’s just me; I have no problem talking to the movie screen.  Something along the lines of “Did you REALLY just put your finger in that bowl!?  Where the hell have your hands been!?” would be perfectly acceptable in my book.

4.

The cat playing the role of Julie’s pet looks like a scary version of Morris the Cat.

5.

Don’t recall your 1950’s politics?  You might want to do a quick review of McCarthyism before you go see this movie.  Mentioned several times with just a little bit of background, this witch-hunt style of politics plays a minor but important role in the film.  Use this topic to throw the kids off of point #2.

6.

You’ll notice that Julia, her husband, and just about everyone in the throw-back scenes smoked cigarettes like chimneys.  Yeah, just about everyone did that back in the 40’s and 50’s so its no big deal.  Its just funny to see it because movies are the only media where we can see people smoking other than the motionless print ads in magazines.  My favorite smoking scene? [Insignificant spoiler alert!!]  When Julia’s dad lights her cigarette.  Its like a parent wishing ill health on their child.  Too funny!  Sad, yes, but funny.  Oh, she lived to be about 94 so I guess tar, nicotine, and butter weren’t too hard on her!

7.

Taste the movie! Well, not the real movie, but an ingredient used in the movie.  After the screening, the Sony folks gave all the attendees huge, 3 0z bars of Scharffen Berger Extra Dark chocolate.  The wrapper on the bar claims “as seen in” the movie although I don’t recall the product placement.  Let me know if you see it!  If you’re inspired, take a bar along with you to the show (see tip #1).   Be prepared to share, though.  At 82% cacao, this chocolate is very intense, insanely rich, and very full bodied with a pleasantly bitter-sweet flavor.  Might be hard to finish a bar by yourself.  Hard, but not impossible!