ALARIS' REVIEWS

30th March 2010
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)

Talk about development hell.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is based on a novel written in 1938. The film adaptation went into pre-production in 1941, and was subsequently shelved after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Resurrected almost 70 years later (obviously with all new cast and crew), Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a screwball comedy set in London just prior to WWII. Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a conservative, down on her luck governess, who is unexpected vaulted from the soup kitchen queues into the frantic, glamorous, and superficial world of socialite Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams).

I love the classic comedies of the 1930s, for their facetious wit, their biting social satire, and their wistful insights into the human heart eg. Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938), and my all time favourite, The Philadelphia Story (1940). While Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is amiable, it doesn't quite have the spark and charm of its predecessors.

The film is engaging, and the performances are respectable. McDormand presents us with a sensible, empathetic woman, who quietly props up those around her, while her own world is gently coming apart at the seams. Adams is perky and scattered as the ambitious actress Lafosse, and Lee Pace puts in a companionable performance as one of her many suitors.

However, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day doesn't quite carry off the style as well as I would have liked. Many 1930s comedies tend to be quite theatrical, with a significant focus on witty repartee, sharp comic timing, madcap screwball antics, and the occasional moving monologue. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is reasonably entertaining, but I felt as though it were shadowing a style, rather than creating its own. The humour could have had tighter beats, and the drama could have had more texture. A few more musical numbers wouldn't have hurt either.

I can't help thinking that the film would be much more charming if it were in black and white, and if the actors' vowels had been more rounded.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is an agreeable comedy, but not a classic.

Verdict: An amiable, pre-war comedy, if you're not looking for lots of laughs or tears.

**+

Read Clementine's review of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008).