Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Our local critic gave this movie three stars (out of a possible four), but as fans of classic screwball romantic comedies, we had to go. Wow, am I glad we did! This movie is a gem. The writing is spot on, the pacing is superb, the acting is uniformly exactly as it should be, and every shot contributes something important. Frances McDormand could not be better in the title role, which the writers wisely kept muted.

My favorite bit, from Miss Pettigrew: "A solid man. You'd call him dull. But he smiled every time he saw me, and we could have built a life on that."

Miss Pettigrew deserves four stars. Check it out.

This evening's restaurant, by contrast, merited fewer stars than our local restaurant reviewer gave it. The Fairview Dining Room at the Washington Duke Inn garnered four and a half stars (out of five) in our local paper, making it one of the highest ranked restaurants in the area. Our meal did not live up to the rating. The service was so-so, the food was tasty but not extraordinary, and overall it was exactly the sort of meal we'd expect from a much lower-ranked place. I don't feel an urge to go back anytime soon.