Happy Go Lucky - REVIEW

Before I start this review, there are a few things you ought to know about my "condition" prior to seeing this film. 1) I had spent most of the day working on an excruciatingly tedious college application, so my brain felt like mush, and 2) the movie started 20 minutes late, so it felt like time had been slooooooooooooooooooowed down. I say this because it probably kept me from getting the most out of this movie, which I did like.

Perhaps the main problem with Happy-Go-Lucky isn't in the film itself, but rather in the marketing. Trailers for the film have tried to market it as a complete joy ride of happiness. This is not really true. What it REALLY is, is less an exploration of happiness, than it is an exploration of how we can choose to act in the face of adversity. Poppy (Sally Hawkins, truly the breakout star of the year) is a single, primary school teacher in London, who has never had a boyfriend, lives in a flat with her sister and friend, and is perpetually happy. In the film's opening sequence, Poppy rides through town on her bicycle, goes inside a bookstore, tries to talk with the sullen store clerk, and then leaves only to find that her bicycle has been stolen. At this point she gives a sort of dismayed giggle before remarking, "I never got a chance to say good bye." This opening scene is perhaps the best indicator of what the whole film is like. Though there are priceless moments of hilarity (a long scene where Poppy first takes Flamenco lessons gets increasingly laugh out loud funny), these are not the driving force behind the film. The real crux of it all, rather than great laughs, is the contrast between Poppy and her grouchy driving instructor, Scott (a superb Eddie Marsan). Unlike Poppy, Scott will let all the bad things, big or little, driving him further into a state of supreme unpleasantness, which culminates in a strikingly strong confrontation near the film's end. The only other problem I have with the film is that at times it feels somewhat structurally weak. Though yes, it is a "slice of life" film, there are one or two scene that could have placed elsewhere (ex: a subdued but touching scene where Poppy tries to comfort a homeless man that comes out of nowhere). For a movie titled Happy Go Lucky, it could have used a little more "happy". In the end it's very much worth seeing, especially for Hawkins and Marsan, but I'd advise you to be much more alert than I was, so you might take in more than I did.

Grade: B+

Nominations: Best Actress - Sally Hawkins(#2), Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Marsan(#3), Best Original Score - Gary Yershon(#3)

Number of 2008 films seen: 39

Top 10 of the year:

1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. In Bruges
4. Burn After Reading
5. The Fall
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
7. Happy Go Lucky
8. The Duchess
   
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Rachel Getting Married