If you find blogger Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams) just a little annoying in Julia & Julia, Nora Ephron manages to sneak in one unexpected bit of gratification: so did Julia Child! Indeed, the scene where Powell finds out that Child doesn't approve of her blog is such an out-of-nowhere shock (and one that's never quite resolved) that it leaves audiences wondering where exactly Child's displeasure came from.
Writer Russ Parsons, who introduced Child to Powell's blog years ago, elaborated further on Child's reaction in today's LAT:
When I found "The Julie/Julia Project" online, I was fascinated by it. [...] Of course, I was also interested in what Julia might think about it. So I printed out the whole thing and took it up to her. She hadn't heard about it, but promised to have a look and get back to me.
I didn't hear from her for several days, so eventually I called her up. "So Julia," I asked, "what do you think?"
There was a silence as she gathered her thoughts. Then in that familiar reedy voice she nailed the answer: "Well," she said, "she just doesn't seem very serious, does she?
"I worked very hard on that book. I tested and retested those recipes for eight years so that everybody could cook them. And many, many people have. I don't understand how she could have problems with them. She just must not be much of a cook."
You got off easy, Julie. Not a "bloggerviper" to be found!