Miss Pettigrew Lives
For A Day

Since the movie stars Amy Adams (in my dreams, she is the new future Mrs. William Waffle), you know I was going to be enchanted, but the studio also passed out chocolate chip cookies before the show, so I had three reasons to be excited (I had 2 cookies).

Frances McDormand stars as Miss Pettigrew – a down on her luck British household worker who has lost several jobs after objecting to the employers’ moral deficiencies. England is on the verge of World War II and the country’s economy is suffering, so it will be difficult for Miss Pettigrew to find another job. However, while at the employment agency, she hears of a young lady who needs help right away.

Delysia Lafosse (Adams) is a singer and actress trying to make it big, but has been juggling three men to make it happen. One pays for her apartment and gives her a job singing in his nightclub. Another is the producer of a play in which she wants to star, and the third is the one man who loves her, but doesn’t have the money and influence of the others. I guess you can say she is not embarrassed to use her “femininity” to get ahead.

When Delysia and Miss Pettigrew spend one day together, can they help each other set their lives on the right paths?

Will Miss Pettigrew loosen up a bit?

Will Delysia make the right choices in her career and love life?

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is a perfect example of how you can make a quick-witted, funny movie and still throw in a bit of raunchiness with taste. Writers David Magee and Simon Beaufoy (based on the novel by Winifred Watson) put the pedal to the metal to get the movie started with sharp, fast dialogue full of innuendo and all of the information we need to know to understand Miss Pettigrew, Delysia and all of the people they come into contact with during this one wild day. In a blur of action, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day takes off like a rocket swirling around the audience as we try to take it all in. It’s a funny farce that develops into more of a drama, but not in an entirely unwelcome way.

Of course, the actresses involved in the movie help make Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day the treat it is. Adams is so cute and beautiful most men in buildings within a mile of the theater will feel a force stronger than the gravitational pull of the Earth calling to them to wander in and see her in her glory, but she also has the ability to show us Delysia’s underlying sadness when we need to feel sorry for her, even if we object to her tactics. Adams is the real deal when it comes to being one of the best actresses in the business today. Luckily, she has a very capable acting partner to dance with.

McDormand is very good as the proper woman reacting to the less than moral world around her, but also excels at making Pettigrew into a lovable sad sack almost like a Charlie Chaplin as she just tries to get a bite to eat and stay out of the way when the sparks fly. However, she always finds some way to show Pettigrew’s inner strength, so the audience worries about her, but you have the feeling she has what it takes to succeed, which makes triumph even more pleasing.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day slows down towards end, and we don’t need the whole angle about war, but those are minor problems for a movie that is so energetic and satisfying.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is rated PG-13 for some partial nudity and innuendo (don’t get excited, it’s not Amy Adams partially nude, it’s, umm, how do I say it, something for the ladies)