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Absolutely Fantastic

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A while back, I suggested a poll on IMDb about the best fictional life therapist one could ever dream of, characters like Ferris Bueller, R.P. McMurphy, Amelie and Baloo grabbed the most votes. Last time I checked, Poppy was number 17 and after watching "Happy-Go-Lucky", she had to get my vote. I suspect if the film was one tenth as known as all the classics she 'competed' with, she would have been in the Top 5. I can't think of a more positive movie character, no I can't.The film opens with the kind of whimsical tune you expect from feel-good movies and we see Poppy (Sally Hawkins) joyfully riding her bicycle across London. She stops near a library and tries to make some small talk with the taciturn owner, a few jokes here and there, but not a smile in return. Yet it doesn't feel awkward, Poppy seems inside a magical bubble that makes her immune to the word 'embarrassment'. That scene says a lot about her character but that's not her character establishing moment. The real signal is when she goes back and can't find her bike, it's been stolen. Any normal person would have dropped a few F or S bombs, a sigh, or raised hands in disbelief. Poppy has none of that, she wishes she could have said 'goodbye' to her bike. What does she do next? She takes driving lessons. What she did is simple yet it would pass over the majority of people: she turned a mini-crisis into a big opportunity, she didn't see the half-full glass, she drunk it and it tasted good. And in the process, she set up the structuring conflict of the film, with her driving instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan) another "school of thought" as far as optimism is concerned. When a little rainbow of a woman bringing sunshine wherever she goes meets an intellectual malcontent and conspiracy freak, you can only expect friction. And I kept waiting for it. All through Mike Leigh's film, I kept waiting for the 'snapping' moment or the revelation about Poppy's hidden wound. I mean, a girl who feels the need to go crazy and funny, to find excuses for joking and teasing and giggling all the time, must have something to hide? Am I too cynical? No, our world is. Mike Leigh made an intelligent film in the sense that he anticipated our own defensive reaction toward Poppy. She's too empathetic to inspire our empathy, at first. That's the problem, we've been raised on so many 'three dimensional' characters that we're sure there is a catch, that a breaking point will be reached. But as the story advances, we realize that she's not a grown-up child, she's not living in a fantasy, she's not a clown, she's a mature, adult woman, with a fantastic capability for humor, laughs and a sincere desire to bring the goodness in everyone. On that level, Sally Hawkins delivers the kind of performance so often snubbed by the Oscars while it takes more acting skills to play such a heart-warming and optimistic character than some depressed or struggling character. There comes a moment where we admire Poppy, for the way she listens to a child, to a bum no one ever paid attention to, the way she reacts to her instructor's tantrums. We don't question her attitude but ours. That's a woman who takes everything in all stride and no matter how shaken she is, she listens and talks. There is one powerful moment with her pregnant sister, she doubts about her happiness, she encourages her to make plans, to be more adult, but Poppy says she's happy the way she is, and she's not in a hurry to have kids. The discussion escalates to the point that the sister is taking offense of Poppy's reaction, she's like unhappy about her happiness and that says a lot about people's need to feel good the wrong way.The sister leaves the room but what I loved is that Poppy didn't even feel guilty. When you've got nothing to blame on yourself, why would you? The film culminates with the confrontation with Scott, the man blames Poppy for being a sort of self-centered selfish attention whore who's harmful to people. Marsan reveals that he wanted to 'possess' her in a way and he represents the most extreme side of the sister's attitude: he is so unhappy in his life that he established unhappiness as a norm, and Poppy is the weirdo by his own wicked standards. The climax shows that happiness, optimism are free assets but in fact luxuries a few people can afford, and it is served by great performances from both Hawkins and Marsan.Poppy can because she takes life as it comes, she takes driving courses, flamenco lessons, and doesn't take life seriously, except for the serious things like jobs and people. And life proves her right, it is very ironic that the very day after her sister's critics, she had a date and the relationship seemed promising. And you can tell her roommate (Alexis Zegerman) is almost sad because she knows she'll never have a better company than her Poppy. There's a reason why they've been sharing the same apartment for ten years. Hawkins' smile was so communicative I couldn't have resisted either, I'm among these constantly unhappy persons but Mike Leigh's film was an epiphany. This man knows how to handle human emotions, after this film and "Secrets& Lies", it's now a certitude.To put it differently, if you want to show someone what emotional intelligence is about, all you've got to do is show him this film. It's as simple as that, this is a powerful movie about happiness and it doesn't even try to play some emotional twist, why should someone like Poppy ever change? We should, not her.

I love the fact that Mike Leigh often uses the same group of actors in his projects involving everyday lives of average people—sharing in the joys and sorrows of life—very realistic—even cozy at times. His actors always deliver the best performances, too. Leigh has a way of drawing you in and manages to capture every expression on his actors' faces. For instance, in Another Year, the camera shot is on Lesley Manville's character, Mary, who is sitting on the couch, looking very sad, out of place, and forlorn, while the others are standing about her chit-chatting, pretty much ignoring her. Mary doesn't seem to fit in and is more alone than ever. Talk about heart-wrenching! My heart went out to her in that scene.The music often used in Leigh's projects is quite interesting and adds to the mood of each scene. I love Leigh's style and he is the master of improvisation. My favorite project of his is Secrets and Lies.Happy-Go-Lucky is about a primary school teacher, Poppy (Paula) Cross, played by Sally Hawkins, who incidentally is one of my favorite British actresses. Poppy is extremely playful and sees the good in everyone. She's the 'glass is totally full' kind of girl! I have to say that some of her escapades, though, are over the top throughout the movie. Of course, that's due to the writing and not the actor's fault. I mean really, what person, much less a school teacher, would walk through a vacant lot, late at night, to stop and chat with a homeless man who could have easily been a rapist or killer for all she knew. No common sense, whatsoever! Poppy proceeds to walk deeper into the lot as this man is chanting something or other, and briefly converses with him, if you want to call it that. But the whole time I was thinking, oh, Lord, he's going to kill her! There is another scene where Poppy is at school and during recess, one of her students, a young boy, is attaching another child. She is looking out the window for a good 40 seconds before taking action. However, Poppy doesn't report this to the principal/counselor until this child does it again and this time a social worker is brought in. Of course, there's chemistry between her and the social worker. I thought they fit well together except that their silly antics at dinner was a bit much and way too silly! The worst though is when she becomes a bit too playful with her driving instructor, Scott, played by the stellar Eddie Marsan, and, oh my, does he ream right into her. His character is a time bomb that one! But he goes on to telling her, in so many words, to grow up and how incredibly immature she is and the fact that he couldn't believe she really was a school teacher! My sentiments, too! Poppy took to rebounding or exercising on the trapeze and I'm afraid that not only did she overwork her muscles, but quite likely shook up some of her brain cells as well.One of my favorite scenes with Sally, though, was when she and Zoe went to see the chiropractor. Sally's soreness was very believable! Zoe, Poppy's flatmate, was probably the most level-headed of them all, if truth be told.All in all, I did enjoy much of this film regardless of the negatives. I loved the honesty that each of the actors exuded.

One of these movies that kind of offer nothing. Or maybe, to be more exact, a bundle of clichés with no depth, not scratching even a bit below the surface. This is not a lesson about optimism or a guide for your life in any way. The central character of the movie is no apocalypse for anyone. She is just an optimist but heavily depressed if you ask me, with lots and lots of issues to resolve.This cheerful lady, borderline stupid actually, that goes through some quite ordinary stuff in her life, if you take out one of the incidents, in which she was kind of to blame as well. A group of girlfriends that are also really boring, leading a wasted lifestyle at night and teaching kids during the day. Nice! Some fragments of life lessons but such that are really obvious and for the simple-minded. In general, a movie with little to show, saved (if at all) by some glimpses of acting from some of the cast members. If you still watch it, you will find yourself constantly waiting for something to break the boredom and give some meaning. You will wonder why you're still watching it and haven't turned it off yet, and once it's over, you will be left with a feeling of lost time and maybe with some less IQ points, but for sure a couple of hours wasted...!

Meet Pauline, who thinks her name belongs to a 2 year old and insists on being called "poppy" because it sounds adult. And off we go on a 38 minute ride with a sometimes drunken clearly stupid always teenybopper-behaving stupid-teen-dressing supposedly 30 year old ditsy broad from hell. This creature from your nightmares, just as one example, starts taking driving lessons and quickly proves some people should never be allowed behind a wheel. The dumb little frozen-in-teenybopper-mindset student pays no attention to her driving; she blithers about squirrels, giggles and jokes around about everything and nothing, squeals and takes her hands off the wheel of a moving car just to discomfit the instructor, and refuses to wear appropriate driving shoes instead of her stupid high heeled boots with which she continually messes up. Her whole life is like this, gigglegigglegiggle at everything and nothing, appropriately or not, whether it hurts someone's feelings or not, whether it endangers someone or not. Oddly most reviewers seem to have missed the fact that her squealy and often hurtful stupidity is far from optimism and that others around her whom they classify in negative terms may or may not behave negatively at times but are far more mature, adult, and humane than baby-doll dummygirl. And let's not forget the main character is supposed to be a bona fide schoolteacher of small children --as if any primary school worth its salt would ever hire a wannabe-16-but-still teenie-dressed ditz.Then, abruptly at 38 minutes into the film, Pauline actually acts like an adult for once, interestingly after getting another talking-to from her driving instructor. I wondered at the time if it occurred then because audience testing showed that any more of it would result in 90% of them walking out in sheer disgust.Unfortunately, after that, the film itself takes an equally abrupt turn into a different film altogether, becoming rather darkside fare throwing out all sorts of common human problems, and so making you wonder just what the people involved in making it were trying to do. The main character, by the way, continues to have stupid teenybopper moments along with her now sometimes actually adult behavior capped by a facesucking etc session (with some guy she just met, of course) at an hour and a half that seems stuck in merely to prove she actually is over the age of 12. This ridiculous flick winds up with Pauline deciding not to continue taking driving lessons with her instructor after he lets lose a rant brought on principally by the stupid dangerous actions of other drivers and his own students, principally her. Too late, she grows up enough for a moment to apologize for upsetting him -- and even this is touted as her being sad for his lacks rather than for her own stupidity. The whole thing winds around itself into a totally unbelievable mash that probably could have been edited into something quite decent by a discerning filmmaker, but wasn't. After seeing this, it seems clear that nothing else made by the same people is worth even a minute of your time.