Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci’s Relationship Is the Best Part of ‘Julie & Julia’

It takes a lot to make perfection better, which is to say it it’s almost impossible for anyone to adequately star alongside Meryl Streep. But there is one person who has managed to not only survive the overwhelming glow of Streep’s acting prowess but who quietly made her even brighter. In Julie & Julia Stanley Tucci wasn’t merely Streep’s romantic interest; he was her subtle magnifying glass.

Over their long acclaimed careers, Streep and Tucci have only starred in two movies together — 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada and 2009’s Julie & Julia. It’s somewhat shocking that the their collaborations have been so few because Tucci is excellent in Nora Ephron’s movie about the joys of cooking and the stressors of life.

Based on author Julie Powell’s viral blogging experiment, the comedic drama follows the lives of two women searching for control in their own lives — the overworked Julie (Amy Adams) and her muse from the past Julia Child (Streep). As Julie cooks her way through each of Childs’ iconic recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the movie cuts back to Streep’s life, examining a time when Child was less confident about the world around her and less sure of herself. During its best moments, the movie is a sweet and sometimes heart-wrenching story about an optimistic woman’s journey to becoming a legend.

And when Julie & Julia hits its peaks, Tucci typically isn’t too far behind. Standing as Paul Child, Tucci’s reflective and smiling performance quietly does exactly what it’s supposed to do. With a well-placed look, Tucci’s Paul smooths over the eccentricities of Streep’s excellently performed take on Julia Child. The real Child was a loving, over-the-top person, but thanks to Paul the film never feels like its protagonist is comically too much. More often than not we see her through his eyes as the vibrant, innovative, and caring-to-a-fault person that she was. Tucci’s adoring smiles and small touches go a long way in making Child seem more human and, as a result, more sympathetic and lovable.

Of course this softening effect is only possible because of Streep’s excellent performance in the first place. But it’s rare to see an on-screen duo that communicates as quietly, intuitively, and beautifully as this one. There are still some parts of Julie & Julia that miss the mark. Adams’ misadventures in cooking can be cringe-worthy at times, and the way both Julie and Julia handle their growing success is at best hit or miss. But through it all there’s Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep, silently uplifting and honoring the legacy of an incredible woman. We need more Streep and Tucci collaborations, but until that happens Julie & Julia is on Netflix.

Where to stream Julie & Julia