Be Happy

Happy-Go-Lucky has been reviewed in the British press as a relatively lightweight Mike Leigh movie, but I'm not so sure. The story revolves around Sally Hawkins' remarkable performance as primary school teacher Poppy Cross, a highly unusual character in that Hawkins and Leigh between them manage to make her consistently cheerful and optimistic without being either naive or irritating. Poppy is presented as both relentlessly cheery and, on another level, remarkably intuitive; throughout the film, she has a series of encounters with troubled male figures (a boy in her class who has started bullying, a very strange homeless Irishman and, above all, her phenomenally uptight driving instructor Scott) and in all of them, Poppy's liveliness and friendly curiosity about other people is seen to be a powerful counter to male self-pity, anger and despair.

Hawkins' character is not someone who is inclined to let life get her down, so it's just as well that she is surrounded by people with a somewhat more sardonic or downbeat take on reality. Her flatmate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman, very good) is a wonderfully dry and sarky counter to Poppy's enthusiasm, although the affection between them is palpable. Poppy's younger sisters Suzy and Helen are also quite different; Suzy is a law student who is more interested in clubbing, drinking and playing with her brother-in-law's Playstation than in criminal justice, while Helen is heavily pregnant, obsessed with acquiring the trappings of a respectable suburban life and unable to understand how her older sister can be so happy living in a rented flat and not stepping onto the property ladder.

The big surprise for me is that I had been led to believe that this is a more or less straightforward feelgood film. It isn't. Scott, Poppy's driving teacher (Eddie Marsan), is the most affecting character in it, and one of the greatest and most unforgettable characters in Leigh's oeuvre. Most of the reviews I've read of the film depict Scott as a hateful, sinister or otherwise despicable character, but although it's true that he is an uptight, judgmental, angry bigot, it is also perfectly clear from his first appearance that he doesn't know what he's talking about and that he is driven by emotional problems that he hasn't even begun to get a handle on. Marsan's extraordinary performance is one of the best things I've seen on film for a long time. Scott has been afflicted with very bad teeth and a mild speech defect (he can't really say the letter 'r') and although his inner anger and bigotry is played for laughs for a lot of the film, in the end it is allowed to blossom forth in a riveting scene where his fury, jealousy and terror of his own darkness spill forth in a heartbreaking and riveting torrent. If part of the point of art is to help us to understand people we would otherwise have little sympathy with, then this film is a work of art. I've never seen Marsan before but he deserves awards for this movie, no question.

Happy-Go-Lucky is a highly enjoyable and often very funny film, but it also carries terrible sadness. I have never been a massive fan of Mike Leigh, but lately I have to admit that I was wrong. He just seems to get better and better.

In this latest movie from Mike Leigh we are introduced to the very sweet Poppy. Poppy is a teacher, a good laugh, a bit of a loon and a really annoying person all rolled into one but try as you might you won't hold that against her. She is an unexpectedly cute cross between Michaela Strachan and Frank Spencer. Thankfully, there's no beret but there are plenty of knockabout gags which, when coupled with Poppy's infectious giggling and quick asides, had the audience laughing along quite genuinely. Characters come and go throughout the movie with an especially good performance from Stanley Townsend, but it's Eddie Marsan who gives the stand out performance in the movie with his darkly obsessive narratives and non sequiturs which expose his sinister persona. The rest of the cast are also splendid, they all fit in just right to make this a very watchable and enjoyable movie. Even the two dimensional characters have good aspects for which they are easily forgiven. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending people to this movie, my only complaint being that it was over too soon. I could have watched how the characters developed for another day or two and I guess that's down to the fascination with the ordinary which Mike Leigh builds into his films.

Dear Readers, please see the movie before voting whether or not a review is helpful.

"Happy-Go-Lucky" (HGL) is being marketed as a lively comedy, in the vain of "Amelie," which is a far superior film that should be rented instead of seeing HGL (a search for Amelie at IMDb will bring up a review). HGL made me and my fiancée sad and annoyed that we had wasted two hours of our lives watching this dreck.

HGL is a film about several sad and miserable people and an annoying, overly-optimistic Poppy who sees the world though rose-colored-glasses no matter the problem or danger. Poppy come across as a lunatic surrounded by boring characters. No one in HGL does anything to endear themselves to any of the other characters or for that matter to the audience. Poppy may be "Happy" but her happiness is not infectious, and she does nothing that brings any joy into the film world or our world.

HGL has few laughs and fails as a comedy; it also fails as a drama about sad and miserable people.

Please consider the environment before printing this review. For more eco-tips, try a Google search for TreeHugger.

Mike Leigh's done it again ... for fans and detractors alike! Poppy, his latest creation, sails through this slice of life with a smile on her face, fun on her mind and kindness in her heart.

Irritating? I didn't think so. On my good days, I rather hope there's a little of her in me.

For me, she was quite brilliantly brought to life by the excellent Sally Hawkins. Ironically, if she calls to mind any other inhabitant of Planet Leigh then it's probably Jane Horrocks's rather more sour Nic (or was it Nat?) in Life Is Sweet.

And Poppy has much to be happy about. A true friend, with whom she shares a not-too-shabby flat in a Finsbury Park that I shall not stoop to comparing with the N4 district of my own experience. A job she was born to do, among supportive colleagues. An enjoyable social life, memories of travels past, a cool reetro bike (for a while, at least ... ) and a wardrobe straight out of (ahem!) an Australian's nightmare all go to emphasise the message given by the film's title.

Into her life ambles driving instructor Scott, played by the ever-welcome Eddie Marsan, and the real fun begins. If Poppy can be said to stroll across the surface of life's duckpond without even getting the soles of her cowboy boots wet, then Scott is a man slowly drowning. The film's strongest plot line (this *is* Mike Leigh!) charts the evolving relationship between these apparent opposites,and the interplay really lights up the screen.

To say more would dent your enjoyment should you decide to go and see for yourself! If you go by bike, remember to lock up securely or - better still - maybe your best friend will take you along in her "mad" yellow car.

However you get there, why not let Poppy's attitude infect you for a few hours after you leave? It probably will anyway ...

When this film came out my girlfriend said she wanted to see it because she'd heard good things. After much time waiting for her to be in the mood for it, I eventually queued it up when by myself and I am glad I did as she would have truly hated this film. The plot (as light as it is) is about a 30-year-old woman who is as cheerful and perky as the day is long. She hangs out with her friends, she meets a guy, she learns how to drive and in all these things we see her infectious sense of happiness. There isn't much more to this and I do not thing I have seen a film that depends so totally on whether or not you like the main character.

I said she is infectious but then so are many diseases and to be honest I found Poppy to be as enjoyable. Her character is the type to speak to strangers, to constantly have a zany remark, to be the one making a spectacle of herself and so on. Of course her being the polar opposite of me didn't help, but I found nothing to make me question myself here and on the contrary I spent much of the film wondering if Polly isn't suffering from some sort of mental illness. The majority of the film sees Poppy in full-on zany mood, mostly in collaboration with others but occasionally contrasting her with a dull married couple and her driving instructor, who carries all of his anger with him all the time. When the film is letting Poppy just be herself I found it tiresome. As a character she says nothing real and everything is a little joke or witty episode. It is only the contrast where she comes out and I think there is really only one or two moments in the film where I felt a real person had come out of Poppy.

The cast are mixed and not in a goo way. Hawkins got lots of praise of this performance but I thought it was terrible. In one or two scenes she lets the façade drop so we see her at her most real. I loved these moments but the downside of them was that we then know the rest is a façade and not her really. Her acting involves cheeky mockney dialogue and little else. Marsan is much better. His rage and anger is convincing and his performance works well next to the moments when Hawkins is not OTT cheerful. The supporting cast is OK but really it is Hawkins' film and this is something to keep in mind.

Whether you like this film or not depends very much on liking Poppy. You may find her freewheeling color to be charmingly quirky but for me she used it as a barrier to any real discussion or humanity and she struck me as disingenuous throughout the film. The moments where she drops the wisecracks and zaniness and lets something like empathy or concern for others come through are great, but they are few and far between.