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Critics Consensus: Miss Pettigrew is a breezy period comedy carried by the strong performances of Amy Adams and Frances McDormand.
Critic Consensus: Miss Pettigrew is a breezy period comedy carried by the strong performances of Amy Adams and Frances McDormand.
All Critics (146) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (33) | DVD (1)
McDormand is frankly bland and unresponsive in a role she clearly couldn't care less about; Adams's wide-eyed ingenue routine is on autopilot, and the whole thing looks like a sub-prime American TV movie.
Adams is adorable as the wide-eyed would-be starlet, with McDormand spot-on as the sensible half of the odd couple. A delightfully frivolous screwball comedy.
[Ciaran Hinds is] a terrific character actor, and he actually gets to play somewhat of a romantic lead in the story with Frances McDormand, which I thought was so sweet and gave this film just a little bit of gravity.
At least Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day has the good grace to go wrong quickly; you don't have to sit there squirming with doubt.
Based on the 1938 novel by Winifred Watson, Miss Pettigrew is a veritable treat. Wisely cast, this handsome production is a delightful farcical fairy tale, bolstered by moments of depth and emotion.
You can't criticize a soufflé for not being a side of beef.
However fanciful the happy endings are (and there must always be happy endings in this type of production), thanks to McDormand and a sweet, snappy script we believe and celebrate every moment of them.
An obvious homage to the great screwballs of the past, films in which women were zany, mad things, and men were sticks in the mud, Miss Pettigrew packs a surprising amount of heart into a silk charmeuse, marabou puff of a story.
Fanciful wit to spare, and Adams is sheer delight.
A valentine to a by-gone era; one of the ten best films of 2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a well-acted comedy with enough old-fashioned qualities to make it an enjoyable experience for long-standing audiences.
The spectre of impending war hangs heavily in the background of this romantic comedy, giving it a bit more heft.
Cast: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, Clare Clifford, Sarah Kants, Shirley Henderson, Lee Pace, Mark Strong Director: Bharat Nalluri Summary: When her gruff demeanor costs her yet another nanny position, desperate Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) wangles a job as the assistant of an aspiring American actress (Amy Adams) and soon gets swept up in a dizzying world of glamour and high society. Ciarán Hinds, Lee Pace, Shirley Henderson and Mark Strong also star in this charming 1930s-era comedy based on Winifred Watson's best-selling novel. My Thoughts: "A charming little love story. Shows you how so much can change in just one day. I loved Frances McDormand as Miss Guinevere Pettigrew. She was funny, smart, and true to herself. Amy Adams as Delysia Lafosse was great. She was such a fun bubbly person that definitely needed a little help in the relationship area. Edythe was a spiteful character. I was glad how things ended up for her. The two love stories are cute and in the end will leave a smile on your face."
Super Reviewer
The movie has almost no plot complications or suspenseful moments, yet I love it SO MUCH! It's a floating, pattering, whirling confection of a movie, and Amy Adams fits snugly inside Delysia Lafosse. I think she can have a tendency to be pigeonholed into the ingenue role, but she seizes anything that is thrown at her and you can tell she truly delights in whatever she does, no matter how small or predictable her role is. I love the concept of stuffing a movie into a DAY; the vision of people rushing breathlessly around to fit their events in a day is not something often explored and was executed magnificently!Admittedly the story is not much but that is really the essence of the movie - it entertains and delights, but afterwards you can't really remember what happened, just that you were put in the best mood ever while watching it.
Lee Pace and Amy Adams give their usually cute performances while Frances McDormand proves yet again that she can pull any film by its coat tails.
I enjoyed this movie. Frances McDormand plays a down-on-her-luck governess who finds work as the social secretary for a ditsy actress. They are just what each other needs.
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