In 1939 London, Miss Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) is a middle-aged governess who finds herself once again unfairly dismissed from her job. Without so much as severance pay, Miss Pettigrew realizes that she must – for the first time in two decades – seize the day. This she does, by intercepting an employment assignment outside of her comfort level – as "social secretary." Arriving at a penthouse apartment for the interview, Miss Pettigrew is catapulted into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse (Adams). Within minutes, Miss Pettigrew finds herself swept into a heady high-society milieu – and, within hours, living it up. Taking the "social secretary" designation to heart, she tries to help her new friend Delysia navigate a love life and career, both of which are complicated by the three men in Delysia’s orbit; devoted pianist Michael (Pace), intimidating nightclub owner Nick (Strong), and impressionable junior impresario Phil (Payne). Miss Pettigrew herself is blushingly drawn to the gallant Joe (Hinds), a successful designer who is tenuously engaged to haughty fashion maven Edythe (Henderson) – the one person who senses that the new "social secretary" may be out of her element, and schemes to undermine her. Over the next 24 hours, Guinevere and Delysia will empower each other to discover their romantic destinies.
This is another one of those movies that is just kind of there. Its not bad. Its not great. Its watchable and sometimes even enjoyable but I simply found myself not that in to it and was easily distracted and/or wondering what other things I could be doing instead of watching the movie. Frances McDormand and Amy Adams were both good and they seemed to capture the costume and decor of the 1930s pretty well. I just didn't find myself captured by the movie in any way.
I wouldn't really recommend anyone rushing to rent this one. I'd say you'd be better off watching it on cable that way if you end up not in to it like me - you won't be mad that you spent the 5 bucks.
