Meryl Streep!  Amy Adams!  Passion.  Ambition.  Butter.  Do you have what it takes?

Am I describing Doubt 2: Nuns in the Kitchen?  Nope, I’m talking about Julie & Julia, a movie coming out this summer that should interest any food lover.

(And I didn’t make up “Passion. Ambition. Butter… ”  That really is the tagline.)

The movie’s based on the book written by Julie Powell, a secretary-turned-blogger who in 2003 blogged about her year-long experience of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I finished the book last night after weeks of starting and stopping.  I went in with high hopes but never sunk my teeth into it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Powell’s blog was a hoot, and had I known about it in ’03, I would definitely have been one of her loyal readers (or “bleaders” as she refers to them — blog/readers.)  But as a book, even as a breezy light read, it’s uneven.

The story itself feels disjointed and the fictional imaginings of Julia Child’s relationship with her husband Paul are contrived. What works are the cooking sections; Powell has a knack for writing about food, and I wish she’d done more of it.  Instead, she spends a lot of time whining, snarking, and in one section, showing an appalling callousness towards 9/11 victims.  She doesn’t come off as terribly likable.

That’s where the movie should be a big improvement over the book.  Amy Adams plays Powell; Amy Adams couldn’t be unlikable if she were playing a serial killer. This is also a Nora Ephron movie, so undoubtedly she’ll smooth over Powell’s rough, whiny edges and portray her as a perky, adorable Meg Ryan type, with perky, adorable, attractive friends and a lovable husband.

Then there’s the big gun — Meryl Streep (icon) playing Julia Child (icon).  Meryl Streep’s the kitchen tongs of actresses: all-purpose, multi-functional, useful in any situation, indispensable. From what I’ve read, she KILLS it as Julia Child.  Hello, Oscar nomination!   In the book, there’s a lot of Julie, very little of Julia. In the movie, with Streep as Julia?  More Julia, less Julie.  That’s a good thing.

Julie & Julia practically screams chick-flick.  I’m expecting to be the only male seeing it aside from guys dragged by wives and girlfriends when they’d rather sneak off to watch Terminator Salvation.  My mom will probably drag my dad one Saturday night, and he’ll go, because he’s good like that.

What’d you think of the book?  Are you looking forward to the movie? Will Philip Seymour Hoffman make a surprise cameo as a morally ambiguous sous chef?

Here’s the trailer.