Julie & Julia is going to be great, not only because the effervescent Amy Adams is in it, but also because Meryl Streep somehow found a way to do a Julia Child impression that wasn't embarrassing. This is unprecedented. Which got me thinking about some of my favorite celebrity impersonations in film (not necessarily biopics, which are by and large the worst), and decided to put together a list of them. Which means it's ground-rules time.

First of all, they had to have had a theatrical release -- TV biopics about celebrities happen every five seconds, and there are just far too many of them to deal with here. (Though they do tend to be hilarious. Jennifer Love Hewitt's Audrey Hepburn, Willa Ford's Anna Nicole Smith, Meadow Soprano's Heidi Fleiss, that one where Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino both played Marilyn Monroe in the same movie, and don't even get me started on the hilarity of Victor Garber's Liberace.) Secondly, they had to have been about a celebrity, not a politician or historical figure, or an obscure artist. Basically, Basquiat was a great movie, but I don't have a clue how accurate the impression was, because it's not like the guy had sidewalk graffiti Christmas specials you can rent, you know? And so many people have been Richard Nixon that guy alone could have his own list. Maybe we will make that list some day! But that day is not today. Let's roll.