Phallic Backgrounds

When you've got Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in one film,
expect their male partners to be necessary tokens without substance.

The male cheerleader phenomenon, men who are all-supportive for the quirks
of their objects of affection, make Tonton Gutierrez, the do-gooder
Sharon Cuneta heroine role's rah-rah boy, a Hollywood necessity as well.

Move over Bond girls, and other action film trophy girls.
The Mama's Boys are back. They will tolerate anything
as long as they don't get in the way of the female protagonists'
cinematic lives' objectives.

Or in Tagalog action flick world, think of the latest Binibining Pilipinas
winners who were forced to act. They become the girlfriend or damsel to be
rescued by Lito Lapid, FPJ, or Rudy Fernandez. Sometimes they become
the slapstick comedian's display chick, too.

The learning from "Julie and Julia", according to
our chick movie mate is, at the very least,
make the shallow husbands look like beefcakes,
so they will be noticed and be remembered to have
existed in the film, even if they have no backbones.
They should've spent more of the film's running time
in shirtless fashion, or the very short shorts
of the 80's, donned by Albert and William Martinez
in "Teenage Marriage."

The problem is, Julie and Julia's husbands were not hunks.
And you won't ever dare want to see them shirtless.

And the film is quite long, past two hours,
which felt like it ran forever.

There are better foodie flicks than this one.
If I were you, spend the two precious hours
eating at a French restaurant indeed.
And choose one where the waiters
are as yummy as the cuisine.

Otherwise, you bear Meryl and Amy's one-dimensional husbands.
You feel hungrier as the film's food creations
are displayed, but the men won't make you
crave for sex after.

No amount of candlelights, flowers, and violin players
and the sweetest of words will make this
Nora Ephron dining experience a seductive foreplay.

You're better off staying at home and enjoying
a great bottle of French wine. This French cookbook
on film only resulted to me whining as they were dining.



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