Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

I loved reading the poor reviews here, most are funnier than the film's script. I watched the film today and found the lead character very, very annoying. Poppy has a huge problem, she doesn't know when to shut up. In the opening scenes she goes into a book shop and keeps making inane remarks to the sales assistant despite their not engaging with her. I suppose we're to think that he's in the wrong, but we all agreed that she needed to shut up, browse and either buy a book or get out. What does she do? Just keeps prattling on and giggles. Get the point Poppy, the bloke is working. Then she discovers her bike has been stolen and says 'aww I didn't say goodbye'. Smile, giggle. It was then I realised that poor Poppy isn't necessarily happy go lucky, she's just two sandwiches short of a picnic, not the full shilling. And so the film continues with well, nothing happening. We see some great shots of London. One reviewer asks, ooh my gawd are all English streets so narrow? Hilarious. It's a residential area with beautiful victorian treelined streets and this is all they can say. NB: London is an historic city whose suburbs have streets of many widths. Just like any other city in the world.Poppy decides to learn to drive. Unfortunately she can't shut up long enough to listen to instructions. She giggles, gets distracted by squirrels, men, a bird, all whilst sending the poor instructor in a rage. By the third or fouth lesson he's in meltdown. Before the meltdown simple Poppy is shown at school, teaching. Yes despite being a simple soul she's a qualified teacher (god help those poor kids). She intervenes when a bully is discovered in her class, she seeks to discover what is causing the behaviour. Don't worry about the kids being bullied, they're forgotten. The bully is gently questioned and probably sent on a luxury holiday to discourage such behaviour. No more is said about that. Poppy visits her sister's lovely house, which she and her hubby are rightly proud of. Poppy continues driving lessons, has a date with a bloke, laughs, grins, giggles, points at things and..........well that's it. A very simple film portraying a very simple person who can't string a sentence together, makes odd sometimes inappropriate remarks and giggles. Such a strange, boring film. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen. It didn't. Oh nearly forgot the best scenes were when Poppy was trampolining. Just her silly face but no talking. Bliss

Acclaimed English independent writer-director Mike Leigh has a great eye and ear for details. Here, he directs much talented Sally Hawkins.Leigh portrays some months in the life of main character Poppy (Hawkins). The viewer gets to follow her in her everyday life, working as teacher, spending time with her friends, taking flamenco classes and doing her weekly driving lesson. There are no large-scale events, just the drama and comedy of life around her. Leigh's achievement is the way he makes these things so interesting and engaging for the viewer. The way he and actor Sally Hawkins connects with each other in the director-actor relationship is also quite impressive.

Primary school teacher Poppy is a force of nature; always upbeat and jolly no matter what the world throws at her. In the opening scene she pops into a bookshop and when she returns to where she locker her bike she discovered it has been stolen; whereas most people would have cursed or kicked the railings she just observed that she didn't get to say goodbye to it. Rather than buy a new bike she decides it is time for her to learn to drive; her instructor is her polar opposite; he is uptight and somewhat paranoid…ordering her to lock the door as two black lads cycle past and ranting about CCTV cameras and conspiracy theories. When not taking her weekly driving lessons we see Polly engaging with her flatmate and friends, visiting her sister in Southend and beginning a relationship with a social worker who visited her school to help one of the boys.People looking for a deep plot will be disappointed as there is no plot to speak of; we are merely observing a slice of Poppy's life. To my mind that is no problem as Poppy is such a fun character to watch… although I imagine some viewers will find her perpetual happiness grating. Sally Hawkins does a great job as Poppy and Eddie Marsan balances things nicely as Scott the driving instructor; when he finally snaps his anger feels entirely genuine. The rest of the cast are fine too making the story and characters quite believable. Given Mike Leigh's reputation for making films about people living miserable lives it was a bit of a surprise just how upbeat this film is; there are plenty of laugh out loud moments as even when not laughing I found myself smiling. Overall I found this to be a lot of fun although I suspect this will be loved by some and hated by others with few feeling neutral about it.

(***) out of (*****)"Happy-Go-Lucky" is the sort of film I expected to be a critically-acclaimed family-friendly tour- de-force into Sally Hawkin's everyday life. What you'll get instead is an independent, not-for- everyone sort of tour-de-force, but still keeping its critical (and public?) acclaim. How did it resonate with me?A bit overrated. Sure the average IMDb score is a 7, which I'm awarding it, but while I'd give the film a solid 3/4, most are either impeccable or near-impeccable marks (which I can understand), but I feel while being a good film, has its problems.Let's start off with the good: Without Sally Hawkins, this movie would just fall apart. You take her away and anybody could've made this movie. Well, the cinematography definitely scores some points as this is a BEAUTIFUL movie to look at. I also liked that the movie really reached its art-house status, most notably when Hawkins interacts with a homeless guy. Lots of subtlety going on in that one, and this is where her character really takes off.What irked me? The pacing. This is a film that's surprisingly very slow, and it takes a while for you to get used to the main character (since when the title reads "Happy-Go-Lucky", it really delivers upon what it promises). And, maybe this isn't a gripe, but just how depressing that climax was. This film is like eating a piece of cake. It's all sweet, maybe too sweet, and then BAM! It hits you. Yes, the resolution leaves the movie on a positive note, but it's a little too abrupt for you to feel all giddy about yourself again. And also, there were some things left unopened, as the child's past (I thought we could've delved a little deeper into that).All in all, if you're looking to take a walk away from the real world, see the entire thing, skip the climax, and finish watching at the resolution and it's your money well spent. I can't deny the cinematography is gorgeous and the acting is quite up to par, but the direction left me a little underwhelmed to say the least. While I had my gripes here and there, this is a film that maybe isn't deserving of its full acclaim, but it's at least worth a look.