Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day ***

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" is a diverting bit of froth that amuses for a while, and then, like the foam from this morning's latte, is gone. Don't be misled by the casting. The two heavyweight stars, Frances McDormand as Miss Pettigrew, down-on-her-luck governess in pre-war London, and Amy Adams, as aspiring American actress Delysia LaFosse juggling three boyfriends, are playing against type. Academy Award winner McDormand is the anti-Poppins, good-hearted, but resolutely incompetent. Amy Adams, while as cheerfully air-headed as a Disney princess, is also good-hearted, but resolutely amoral as she beds her way to stardom. In the course of this movie they both have a chance to make a new life.

Desperate for work, Miss Pettigrew steals another's assignment and finds herself cast headlong into Delysia's whirlwind day. She proves adept at aiding the hopelessly disorganized Delysia, and quick with the explanatory fib, no doubt picked up from years of experience with her young charges. Once proven, the two embark on a make-over for Miss Pettigrew. "My new social secretary can't look like Oliver Twist's mom," exclaims Delysia. Then it's into the intrigue of the producer boyfriend about to announce his new star (a supercilious Tom Payne), the rich boyfriend who supplies the stylish apartment and employment at his nightclub (a long-suffering Mark Strong), and the talented piano-playing boyfriend who wants to marry (dark and handsome Lee Pace). Throw in fashionista couple Edythe Dubarry (a deliciously Betty-Boopish Shirley Henderson) and Joe (a smooth Ciaran Hinds), and you have the makings of a comic compote.

It's a fun romp in thirties drag, and in a prewar comedy style. Everything works out in the end, of course, and everyone gets their just desserts. Just don't expect a full meal.

Rated PG-13. 92 Minutes. Directed by Bahrat Nalluri. Screenplay written by David MaGee and Simon Beaufoy from the novel by Winifred Watson. Produced by Nellie Bellflower, Stephen Garrett. Cinematography by John de Borman. Edited by Barney Pilling. Distributed in the U.S. by Focus Features. Principal actors: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Lee Pace, Tom Payne, Mark Strong, Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds.