Every dog has his day, and apparently every downtrodden governess too according to director Bharat Nalluri's rambunctious romp of a period-piece Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. This self-professed "fairytale for adults" is every bit as enchanting as its unconventional titular heroine, capturing not only the style, but also the more elusive atmosphere of an original 1930s musical comedy.

Fired from her job for increasingly eccentric behaviour, timid middle-aged spinster Miss Guinevere Pettigrew (a deliciously drab Frances McDormand) finds herself homeless, without employment, and walking the streets of pre-war London. Desperation prompts her to uncharacteristic action and, misrepresenting herself as a social secretary, she finds herself swept into the negligee-sporting, curl-bouncing world of aspiring American actress Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams).

Aside from the overwhelming cosmetic appeal of its lavish costumes, sets, music and dialogue, the strength of the movie lies in its ensemble cast. McDormand brings enormous sincerity to a role that provides emotional anchorage for the necessarily two-dimensional world of stagey social comedy, and she's well supported by the ever-watchable Ciaran Hinds, who winningly plays Guinevere's lingerie-designer love interest. The lynchpin of the film, however, is unquestionably Delysia herself, and Amy Adams (Enchanted, Junebug) pitches it at exactly the right level as a heroine whose winsome, wide-eyed charms place her somewhere between Holly Golightly and Some Like It Hot's Sugar Kane. A part that could so easily have played out as a sub-Marilyn heroine-by-numbers is elevated (after a slightly manic start) by flashes of real personality, and an energy that is hard to resist. The film's motto, together with that of its leading lady, seems perfectly summed up by the soundtrack's classic number, "T'aint What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)".