Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Competing opinions from Nick at Nite and The Movie Snob

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Nick at Nite:

On Saturday night, my wife and I enjoyed a British themed evening. We stopped at a pub for fish and chips, enjoyed a quick pint, and sauntered up the sidewalk to the picture house for the British comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. A charming little film. A mix-up at an employment agency sends an unemployed, uptight, failed nanny (Frances McDormand) to be the social secretary for a flirty, carefree, wannabe actress (Amy Adams). Mishaps abound as different suitors vie for the affections of the actress. The film is set in the 1930s just before World War II. My wife says the costumes were worth the price of admission. It is not going to win any Oscars, but it is a very good diversion. I give it a “B.”

The Movie Snob:

I respectfully dissent from my esteemed colleague's opinion. Amy Adams (Junebug) is predictably cute and perky, but her character is a strange mixture of Gisele from Enchanted and Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's--heavy on the Golightly. McDormand (Fargo) is given little to do except stand around and look befuddled. The accents were so thick I missed half of what was said for the first half of the movie. That said, things came together fairly decently at the end. Still, I cannot go better than a C- on this one.