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Movie review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
BY MAGGIE SCOTT
“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” is an annoying screwball comedy-wannabe that makes hysterical hash out of the conventions of its forbears. Evoking Carol Lombard to pale comparison, this frenetic copycat casts adorable Amy Adams (Enchanted) as a sweet actress on the make hiding a humble past and desperately juggling the details of keeping three suitors out of one another’s potentially violent paths.
When first met, the deliciosa Delysia Lafosse is in a satin, marabou-trimmed robe, flinging herself across marble floors in an art deco-appointed apartment attempting to tidy up her den of iniquity flotsam before the owner (Mark Strong) of the flat arrives. He takes umbrage at the fact that there’s a strange young man (Tom Payne) in the bed he anticipates sharing with Delysia after a three-week absence.
Drawn into this vortex of feminine and thespian wiles is Miss Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), a downtrodden, middle-aged woman whose “rather difficult” personality has not sat well with a string of employers.
With a strong survival instinct of her own, Miss Pettigrew secures the position of Delysia’s “social secretary” by virtue of her ability to help Delysia sweet-talk her way out of tight spots; and proceeds to eventually help the girl figure out whether the theatrical producer, the nightclub owner, or the pianist (Lee Pace) who wants to marry her and take her to New York for a career in cabaret is the right choice to help Delysia be who she really is instead of who she thinks she is.
In addition to sorting out her employer’s intrigues, Guinevere gets a makeover and attracts the romantic attention of a suave lingerie designer (Ciaran Hinds) before the day is out. A day that also confirms the fear that Hitler is about to put England through round two of death and destruction.
Adams sparkles like a peaches-and-cream pin up; but even her zany zest can’t kick start an underwritten script that promises one thing and delivers another, to the detriment of the redoubtable McDormand. A Focus Features release, rated PG-13 for partial nudity, sexual content.
