DVD : Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Rating: - A Day Worth Viewing
Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is the governess of last resort. No, that doesn't mean she turns naughty children around. In fact, she doesn't seem to be able to keep a job. Fired from her last job, she literally has nothing. And her employment agency is tired of trying to find her jobs. After all, jobs are scarce in 1930's London. Desperate, Miss Pettigrew takes the address of a client, a Delysia Lafoose (Amy Adams).

When Miss Pettigrew arrives at the address, she finds Delysia in crisis. While saving the day, Miss Pettigrew learns that Delysia isn't looking for a governess but a social secretary because they are fashionable.

And Delysia definitely needs help sorting out her life. She's a singer who wants to become an actress. But she's having huge man problems. Specifically, there are three men in her life. There's Phil (Tom Payne), who she has slept with to gain the lead in the play he is producing. There's Nick (Mark Strong), who owns the nightclub where Delysia sings every night as well as the apartment where Delysia lives. Then there's Michael (Lee Pace), a piano player who has proposed to Delysia and has spent the last year in prison waiting for an answer.

Miss Pettigrew is definitely out of her element, but she seems to be helping Delysia juggle everything. Can she keep up and guide Delysia at the same time?

Yes, this movie is a predictable romantic comedy. But the ride is quite enjoyable. The first half is almost farcical in tone with many laugh out loud moments. The second half becomes more serious with fewer laughs but many very touching moments. But by that point you are so invested in everyone's lives you have to stay and see how it turns out.

The acting holds things together perfectly with the entire cast balancing the comedy and emotion. But I've got to praise the two leads. Frances McDormand's facial expressions provide some of the best laughs in the first half. And Amy Adams keeps Delysia from being a mindless fluffy character. Instead, we truly care about her from her very first scene.

While this is a mindless comedy, I think its appeal will skew slightly older. Even with the partial nudity and double meanings, this movie will appeal most to adults and less to the teen and early twenty crowd.

I found this romantic comedy fun and charming and think that any adult will feel the same way.

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Rating: - A Quirky Comedy With A Stiff Upper Lip
I've just seen this film at the cinema and I enjoyed it very much. I wouldn't say it was fantastic, but it certainly wasn't useless either - somewhere in the middle. If you have enjoyed films such as 'The Truth About Being Earnest', you'll love this. Full of romance, comedy, and drama. You'll be laughing one minute, and feel like crying the next.

Set in 1940's Britain fastly approaching war, it follows the story of Miss Pettigrew, a middle age governess who once again has unfairly been sacked from her job. Unemployed and penniless she decides there is no other option but to seize the day, and finds herself working as social secretary to an aspiring young actress known as Delysia Lafosse. Well outside her comfort zone Miss Pettigrew is catapulted into the glamorous and social world-wind of high society. Taking her role to heart, the film is all about Miss Pettigrew trying to help and navigate Delysia's love life and career, by having learned from her own experiences. What she doesn't realise though, is that Delysia is also helping her...

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Rating: - A pleasant diversion
I recommend this film if you are one, like me, who sometimes needs to be entertained without having any demands made on one's intellect or powers of analysis.

The novel on which it is based is a fizzy cocktail of a read, and the film is a faithful adaptation in that respect, although some twists were invented and liberties taken in order to add a few more interesting facets to plot and character. The essential Cinderella story (or, more accurately, the story of a down-and-out but deserving woman who takes advantage of the situation at hand in order to better her own circumstances) is preserved. The art deco sets are sumptuous, and the period songs that supplement the film score set the tone wonderfully.

Amy Adams would not have been my first choice to play Delysia LaFosse (is that a name, or what??); nevertheless, she is appropriately flighty and alluring. Frances McDormand does a marvelous job as Guinevere Pettigrew(another rather startling name). But the main attractions for me are the male stars, particularly Ciaran Hinds and Mark Strong, who play the prosaically named Joe and Nick, respectively.

I actually liked the movie better than the book, perhaps because the wonderful cast skillfully fleshes out what would otherwise be a rather slender story for a feature film. Make yourself a fizzy cocktail, pop this DVD into the machine, and enjoy.