Good news first. Annette Benning is good here, as well as Irons and the actor playing Roger. Bad news: they didn't have much to play actually as the script had butchered the story and the characters. All the irony, sardonic narratives, Julia's inward comments were left out along with a great deal of the story and some terrific scenes. For instance, hilarious seduction episode between Julia and Charles from the book - why substitute it with that pale explanation? and just for the record, Charles wasn't gay, he was apparently impotent. Well, the script made him impotent as a character since one can hardly recollect his part and what he's for there anyway. Same goes for Evie and Dolly, they just don't mean anything. There's not much of Michael, too, obviously because they left out the complete "before" section of the book. And it mattered. Tom is OK though slightly inconsistent. We don't see his development from an obscure admirer to corrupted social climber. Neither the development of Julia's feelings for him (apart from her constant giggling). All in all, better get yourself the book.
Review of Being Julia
