It's certainly likeable, thanks to the acting of the two main stars but Meryl Streep's Julia Child becomes tiresome after while. The film platues around the second quarted and continues that way, the problem being that it is simply a film about cooking and the characters and their lives are not engaging enough to be focused on.
Good storyline, not executed that well. Gerard Butler is the star of the show. He's lively, charming and heart breaking. In contrast, Hilary Swank walks it in, wide-eyed and crying for a large part of the movie, which is similar to Harry Connick Jr.'s performance, one that also consists of being wide-eyed and mopey and not endearing. The supporting cast, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kathy Bates particularly, are good but not around much. The rest, like Lisa Kudrow and James Marsters are blips on the film's radar. Was there a soundtrack or anything? Because I didn't notice it, which tells me there either wasn't or it wasn't worth paying attention to.
It has a couple of funny moments, mostly courtesy of Michael Cera and the supporting cast but in the end the flaws (Oliver Platt, Jack Black's overacting, unfunny situations, even Christopher Mintz-Plasse) far outweigh the pros.
The singing/dancing etc. scenes are entertaining and well choreographed but the rest is not. There's various characters and an attempt is made to give each a backstory but it's to superficial. Wait for the dvd if you really wanna see it.
Once again, Sacha Baron Cohen returns with an character designed to show how people really react when confronted with an outrageous, over-the-top individual who challenges what they believe in. Not as funny as its predecessor 'Borat' but still a highly amusing look at the reactions of people in fake scenarios (that they believe to be real).