To make an unadorned throwback to the period featherbrained comedies rather than a haughty homage, the filmmakers chose wisely to adapt the 1938 novel by Winifred Watson and the material obviously fit like a glove with the combined imaginations of writers David Magee (Finding Neverland) and Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty). The peculiar credit, however, is in director Bharat Nalluri who steps outside of his usual direction of forgettable, chaotic B-movies such as The Crow: Salvation. His direction early in the movie is a little too shaky and frenetic as previously mentioned but thankfully calms down to a jazzy mood and lets the actors shine through the bubbly material.

McDormand, of course, is the steady anchor of the story, giving the film its old-fashioned balance of light-footed comedy, sympathy, and world-weariness and even transforming the classical running gag of her character being always hungry and having her food taken away just when tries to eat it. Adams could have toned her Carole Lombard-like mannerisms a bit in the beginning but lends her usual irresistible lovableness to bring out her character’s confused ingénue qualities amidst her initial haughty, carefree attitude of looking to the quickest advantage to her own aspirations. She also gets to display her natural singing ability again in an unexpected, touching rendition of "If I Didn't Care." The nicest surprise though is in the great character actor, Ciaran Hinds, who, after playing many a second banana role, refreshingly gets to play a women’s lingerie designer devoid of all the clichés of movie fashion designers and become a desired romantic lead for McDormand’s character.

Comedies like this tend to be brushed off by most audiences today because they seem to be done so quickly and easily. The irony, of course, is that it is that much more difficult to make movies like this so effortlessly lovable. A movie like Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is proof that filmmakers acknowledge there are people like myself who are willing to appreciate the naively simple title and their efforts to shed our own everyday cynicism.

Bottom line: Well worth seeing.