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| ‘Miss Pettigrew’ mines the screwball comedy era for gold (A-) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Craig Outhier, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| March 6, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
It’s an absurdly lovable little movie, full of smarts, romance and bygone charm. Based on Winifred Watson’s long-forgotten 1938 novel, the movie is poised adventurously between fairy tale and social critique. Affecting a British accent as effortlessly as her Midwestern “don’tcha know” in “Fargo,” Frances McDormand plays Guinevere Pettigrew, a rigidly principled governess whose inability to suffer rich fools makes her distinctly ill-suited to serve the spoiled whelp of London’s upper crust. It also makes her very poor. Booted from yet another job, Pettigrew finds herself in a Westminster soup line without a farthing to her name. In one of those providential cases of mistaken identity, Pettigrew hijacks a job lead and finds herself in the wildly decadent company of Delysia Lafosse (Adams), an American actress and cabaret singer living in her wealthy boyfriend’s art deco flat. As the kind of fast-living, fast-talking party girl who eats chocolates for breakfast and pounds champagne like Gatorade, the “Enchanted” star makes for a sweetly endearing strumpet; Jean Harlow without the peroxide. Delysia’s reasons for employing Pettigrew are anything but noble; she needs help managing her chaotic, staunchly self-serving social calendar, including three boyfriends — parvenu theater producer Phil (Tom Payne), Svengali nightclub owner Nick (Mark Strong from “Stardust”) and earnest pianist Michael (Lee Pace) — and myriad shopping sprees. For Pettigrew, the goody-goody daughter of a vicar, it’s insidious and liberating all at once. “I’ve never sworn in my life,” she gasps, after dropping a mild profanity. “Even in my head.” Pettigrew’s daylong adventure obliges director Bharat Nalluri (“The Crow: Salvation”) to escort her through a flavorful series of pre-War set pieces — including a ladies-only lingerie show and an upscale jazz lounge, where Adams hops on Pace’s piano and performs “If I Didn’t Care” — and ultimately into the romantic orbit of a gentlemanly fashion designer (Ciaran Hinds). The dialogue is as spry and firm as you might expect from two Oscar-nominated screenwriters, David Magee (“Finding Neverland”) and Simon Beaufoy (“The Full Monty”). There is, also, a wonderfully unfashionable streak of melancholy in the movie rooted in the motif of Britain’s looming war. When even the mannequins on Savile Row wear gas masks, you know it’s not about the day at hand but the long night ahead. MOVIE REVIEW ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day’ Cast: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson Behind the scenes: Directed by Bharat Nalluri, from a script by David Magee and Simon Beaufoy Rated: PG-13 (some partial nudity and innuendo), 92 minutes — Grade: A- Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683 |
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