Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day 2008
Set in 30’s London, this movie is more like something that would have been made in the 1940’s or 50’s with Marilyn Monroe (played here by Amy Adams in a role entirely too similar to last year’s Enchanted). Frances McDormand is horribly miscast as a struggling middle-aged governess who has to put aside her usual prudishness to keep a job minding Amy Adams’ character. McDormand certainly isn’t gorgeous (though she looked good in 2000’s Almost Famous and Wonder Boys), but they make her terribly unattractive here, and even when she receives a sort of makeover, she remains nearly equally unattractive. There have to be other older actresses that could have made a better transformation, and I would bet that some of them would actually be British.
Anyway, this just isn’t my kind of movie. It is a tribute to awful old romantic romps and oozes preciousness at every turn. This will appeal to some women and anglophiles with a love for classic movies, but it just doesn’t do it for me. C.
Written: 14 Mar 2008