McDormand, Adams shine in “Miss Pettigrew Lives”
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By Kirk Honeycutt
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - So fluffy that it
threatens to blow off the screen at any moment, “Miss Pettigrew
Lives for a Day” sustains itself through glorious star turns by
gifted actresses Frances McDormand and Amy Adams.
This is a self-described “fairy tale for adults,” set in a
Noel Coward London of 1939 with ornate and spacious flats,
actresses of easy virtue, lavish cocktail parties and
sophisticated men and women who trade quips (and an occasional
punch) with the flick of a cigarette. McDormand’s penniless,
middle-age governess crosses paths with Adams’ flighty but
ambitious American actress for a mere day, which is enough to
transform the lives of both women.
The film, adapted by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy from a
newly rediscovered 1939 novel by Winifred Watson, comes at you
in a whirlwind of comic coincidences, sentimental yearnings,
amorous betrayals and rapid costume changes. The Focus Features
release, as enjoyable as it is forgettable, should find
enthusiasm among older audiences in specialized venues — those
who can either remember 1939 or at least imagine it. A clutch
of musical standards from that era by Cole Porter, Johnny
Mercer and Yip Harburg wrap the package in a nostalgic glow.
Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, fired again for a personality
clash with her latest employer, hits the streets homeless,
broke and dazzlingly disheveled and mousy. Nobody does
disheveled and mousy like McDormand. But an extreme makeover is
just around the corner. What she first encounters around that
corner is Delysia — as in Delicious — Lafosse, Adams’
effervescent take on a Depression-era, self-absorbed actress
desperate enough to sleep her way to the top.
As Pettigrew enters a lavishly appointed penthouse for an
interview as a “social secretary” — a position for which she
has no experience — those sleeping arrangements have tripped
Delysia up. The man in her bed, Phil (Tom Payne), a junior
impresario about to cast the lead in his next musical, is not
the owner of the flat. That would be Nick (Mark Strong), owner
of the nightclub where Delysia sings — who is on his way up at
that moment.
Pettigrew extricates Delysia from this predicament with
such world-weary aplomb that you wonder where these particular
skill sets come from. Nevermind, she will continue to work her
“magic” during the course of the next 24 hours, providing
advice and comfort that place Delysia in the path of true love
– that being her besotted pianist Michael (Lee Pace) — while
sorting out a broken engagement between fashion industry maven
Joe (Ciaran Hinds) and his gold-digging fiancee Edythe (Shirley
Henderson). She also finds true love herself.
McDormand is grounded enough in a kind of no-nonsense
pragmatism that feels more like “Fargo” than Mayfair that you
can totally buy her twinkling-of-an-eye transformation into a
savvy social negotiator. Adams more or less reprises her
princess from “Enchanted,” only with a beguiling touch of ditzy
naughtiness.
The Battle of Britain has been moved up a year so that air
raid sirens and bombers rumbling in night sky can provide a
“serious” backdrop to this foppish folly. This doesn’t really
work, but it causes little harm, either. “Miss Pettigrew”
remains a romantic comedy where people break down in the midst
of a torch song and the heart finds its way despite ribald
distractions. Continued…
