Mar 6, 2008 10:00 am US/Mountain
'Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day'
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
From the title "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," you might assume
correctly that the lady in question hasn't really lived before this
particular day arrived.
So too, the film starring Frances McDormand as frumpy governess Miss
Pettigrew and Amy Adams as the giddy actress who takes her on as a
social secretary only gradually learns how to get a life.
After a slow and tiresome start, "Miss Pettigrew" forges ahead with
true British fortitude and class, an endearing bond forming between
McDormand and Adams, who are ably backed by a top-notch supporting cast
led by Ciaran Hinds and Shirley Henderson.
The elegant production compensates for a predictable dual-Cinderella
story as a self-righteous ascetic and social-climbing bimbo teach each
other how life might be more satisfying lived somewhere in between
their respective extremes.
Adapted by director Bharat Nalluri (TV's "Tsunami: The Aftermath")
from Winifred Watson's novel, the film follows the monumental makeover
that unfolds during one day in the life of McDormand's Guinevere
Pettigrew in 1930s London.
Destitute after losing the latest in a string of governess gigs and
unable to find a new job because of her judgmental temperament, the
impossibly high-minded Miss Pettigrew takes an uncharacteristic step.
She bluffs her way into a job as social secretary to flighty American
actress-singer Delysia Lafosse (Adams).
With a chaotic life that's the reverse image of Miss Pettigrew's,
Delysia juggles affairs with three men: a menacing nightclub owner
(Mark Strong) whose luxurious flat she calls home; a boyish stage
producer (Tom Payne) in whose musical she hopes to star; and a
penniless pianist (Lee Pace) who adores Delysia for who she is, not the
celebrity she wants to become.
The movie's first act is an awkward, unconvincing series of miscues,
chance encounters and mistaken identities. Everyone comes together in
an initial jumble as Nalluri and screenwriters David Magee and Simon
Beaufoy struggle to introduce the players, who include Hinds as
lingerie designer Joe and Henderson as his duplicitous fiancee, Edythe.
Miss Pettigrew initially is an unsympathetic stiff, while Delysia
starts off as an extremely annoying variation of Adams' helpless
princess from "Enchanted." Granted, the point of the story is how the
two women will set examples that help center the other, but it's mighty
hard to warm up to either through the first third of the film.
With the introductions over, the movie begins to gel and the
characters blossom into richer, likable people. Miss Pettigrew proves
oddly adept at moving among the city's fashionable elite and reordering
Delysia's cluttered life, while Delysia reveals a sturdy mettle beneath
her fickle exterior.
There is nothing remotely surprising in how the transformations of
the two women play out in this fairy tale for adults. "Mary Poppins"
it's not. Not even "Nanny McPhee."
Yet through the devotion of its performers and the beguiling
interplay between McDormand and Adams, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"
eventually musters enough life-force to justify its charmed little
existence.
"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," a Focus Features release, is rated
PG-13 for some partial nudity and innuendo. Running time: 92 minutes.
Two and a half stars out of four.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
