LISTINGS |  EDITOR'S PICKS | NEWS | MUSIC | MOVIES | DINING | LIFE | ARTS | REC ROOM | CLASSIFIEDS | VIDEO

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Oversexed, screwy, and also, dowdy delight
Rating: 3.0 stars
March 5, 2008 1:29:27 PM
Miss_Pettigrew5_inside
Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew

Director Bharat Nalluri gives the old follow-your-heart message a new coat of paint with Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Like the glitzy-but-leaden Mrs. Henderson Presents, his film juxtaposes glamorous London nightlife with WW2-eve jitters. But Miss Pettigrew rises above nostalgia, thanks to pitch-perfect turns by Frances McDormand as a dowdy governess and Amy Adams as an oversexed American jazz baby. A day that begins as farce, when the jobless, homeless Miss P. stumbles into Delysia’s fizzy world of silk lingerie and sugar daddies, takes on gravitas as the older woman, a self-proclaimed expert in “the lack of love,” steers the younger one toward the poor but sincere beau (Lee Pace) she’s taken for granted. Eventually, Miss P. dares to look beyond her own lowly station, at the tuxedo’d swell played by Ciarán Hinds. Adams is a sensational screwball, McDormand is a deadpan delight, and Shirley Henderson is massively entertaining as a catty boutiquière. 101 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle/Chestnut Hill + suburbs
COMMENTS

No comments yet. Be the first to start a conversation.

Login to add comments to this article
Email

Password




Register Now  |   Lost password

Best Readers Poll 2008
MOST POPULAR

 VIEWED   EMAILED 

ADVERTISEMENT

BY THIS AUTHOR

MORE REVIEWS
PHOENIX MEDIA GROUP
CLASSIFIEDS







TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
   
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group