Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 153
Fresh: 142 | Rotten: 11
Mike Leigh's latest partially-improvised film is a light-hearted comedy with moments that bite, and features a brilliant star turn by Sally Hawkins.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 38 | Rotten: 1
Mike Leigh's latest partially-improvised film is a light-hearted comedy with moments that bite, and features a brilliant star turn by Sally Hawkins.
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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 33,749
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Movie Info
Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan star in director Mike Leigh's seriocomedy concerning an eternally optimistic teacher living and working in North London. Thirty-year-old teacher Poppy (Hawkins) always has a smile on her face, and does her best to brighten the days of those around her by making small talk and cracking jokes. For the past ten years, Poppy has lived with her best friend, Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), a fellow teacher whose wry outlook on life serves as the perfect counterbalance to Poppy's
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Cast
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Sally Hawkins
Poppy -
Eddie Marsan
Scott -
Alexis Zegerman
Zoe -
Sinead Matthews
Alice -
Kate O'Flynn
Suzy -
Sarah Niles
Tash -
Sylvestra Le Touzel
Heather -
Samuel Roukin
Tim -
Andrea Riseborough
Dawn -
Oliver Maltman
Jamie -
Caroline Martin
Helen -
Karina Fernandez
Flamenco Instructor -
-
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Happy-Go-Lucky Trailer & Photos
All Critics (154) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (149) | Rotten (11) | DVD (13)
Hawkins wears her grin in almost every scene, but she gives us hints that this dizzy 30-year-old is deep, as are the disappointments that might have caused Poppy to don this mask. It's a performance of sustained, childlike wonder and adult wit.
Top CriticIt's a powerful argument for optimism.
I've never used this cliché in a review before, and God forbid I ever use it again, so pay close attention: Happy-Go-Lucky is the feel-good movie of the year.
Sally Hawkins, in a blinding, Oscar-worthy piece of acting so good you barely see it, plays Poppy, a perpetually upbeat elementary schoolteacher in London.
Leigh pushes the story in a more interesting direction, asking whether people find happiness or simply will it on themselves.
The new Mike Leigh film, Happy-Go-Lucky, is a real pleasure, and besides being Leigh's most buoyantly comic feature it's a marvelous showcase for Sally Hawkins, who has worked twice before with the British writer-director.
You just want to protect her, from the world, from everything, but really she's much stronger than you are.
If you leave the theater feeling uplifted (and unless your heart is made of cold gray concrete, you will), it wasn't due to manipulation, but a result of the film having honestly earned it.
Leigh's most visually beautiful picture since Topsy-Turvy, Happy-Go-Lucky is all about the clashing and connecting of such emotional biospheres.
An anti-miserablist film. A lark, but one with Mike Leigh's signature well-defined characters.
While Sally Hawkins turns out an award-worthy performance as Poppy, I quickly became bored with her life and all the turmoil surrounding it.
There are three extras on the disc, including an excellent full-length audio commentary by writer/ director Mike Leigh.
Few actors could have pulled off this role successfully, as it requires great energy, charisma and depth to make Poppy credible and so much more than first impressions.
It doesn't matter whether one really 'likes' Poppy, only that they recognize in her the proactive application of joy as a weapon -- as well as something that keeps her in a state of arrested development.
Sally Hawkins is a comic revelation, an impish, endlessly charming sprite...
England's addlepated answer to Amelie!
A character tour-de-force for Sally Hawkins, but also a great vehicle for Eddie Marsan as the driving instructor who turns out to be her nemesis.
England's addlepated answer to Amelie!
A bit lean on the extras (some deleted scenes would have be nice), but Hawkins and Marsen's performances still make this Happy-Go-Lucky DVD worth every penny, don't they?
Fresh, spunky and well acted. Sally Hawkins is enchanting and the rest of the cast is enjoyable.
An unusually cheery movie from veteran British writer-director Mike Leigh; one of the ten best films of 2008
Happy-Go-Lucky is flibbertigibbet cinema. Mike Leigh directed Sally Hawkins in this paean to a peahen. Mike Leigh, let me introduce you to Fran Drescher, Kathy Griffin, and Nancy Grace. They're your kind of women.
Like anyone given over to giggling more than griping, Poppy - and as an indirect result, Happy-Go-Lucky - slowly becomes addictive.
Initially, the new Mike Leigh film, "Happy-Go-Lucky," is so overbearing, it's a turn-off. But b the end of it, you might be calling it "Up with Poppy."
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Foreign Titles
- Be Happy (FR)
- Happy: Un cuento sobre la felicidad (ES)
Poppy does not wish to imitate "adult" life, but the pressure to do so is ever-present. Responsibilities mount, situations change, and the desire to find someone grows stronger with each day. Her interactions with her driving teacher, a man very consumed with the idea of responsible living, are awkward, funny, poignant, and an interesting point/counterpoint on proper living.
Do I wish that Leigh would have probed a little more into what makes Poppy tick? Yes. But being my first foray into the world of Mike Leigh, I was more than pleased to spend a couple of hours with someone as unique and wonderful as Poppy.