Americans clearly love British comedies, often finding blunt irony much funnier and less restrained than Yankee humor. "Happy-Go-Lucky," the latest import from the motherland, is no exception.
Sally Hawkins stars as Poppy, a free-spirited primary school teacher from North London. She loves life and doesn't take anything seriously, even when her bicycle gets stolen. This film captures poignant, life-affirming snapshots of her daily happenings.
After she loses her bike, Poppy takes up driving lessons with the eccentric and moody Scott (played by Eddie Marsan), who turns out to be her antagonist. He grows both frustrated and fascinated with her upbeat, laissez-faire attitude. She also has amusing run-ins with a fiery flamenco teacher, her dowdy pregnant sister and a lovable social worker. No matter what roadblocks come her way, Poppy takes everything in stride.
Although this storyline sounds cheesy, the movie manages to avoid falling into the super chick-flick trap of, say, "Mamma Mia" (2008). This film is refreshingly optimistic, but not cloyingly so.
The opening scene shows various angles of Poppy happily biking through central London, with lively instrumental music playing in the background. Right away, this scene establishes both the mood of the film and Poppy's positive character. Eventually, though, her juvenile antics and excessive friendliness do grow irritating, and the audience can almost sympathize with Scott's aggravation.
Fortunately, the movie combats Poppy's zealousness by successfully encapsulating up-close details of life's precious moments. After a long night of clubbing, Poppy and her friends drunkenly unwind at home. At one point, she pulls out a pair of raw chicken cutlets that she had used to stuff her bra.
Scenes like this one provide hilarious insight into Poppy's character and appeal particularly to adult audiences. She is not just the cutesy, innocent girl that she might seem to be. On the other hand, the audience gets to see Poppy's inner child and ability to connect with youngsters when she helps her students to make bird masks out of paper bags. The zoomed-in views of individual children intently painting their masks are powerful because they are so simple and touching.
Poppy is able and willing to confront and deal with difficult situations, such as encountering a homeless man or counseling the class bully. Through these interactions, Poppy redeems herself in the eyes of the audience by exploring the more complex, serious character beneath her frivolous exterior.
In the end, though, this film is a comedy, and it provides enough funny moments to keep the audience laughing throughout. The humor is witty and natural and not too forced or crude.
Scott, the driving instructor, turns an ordinary situation into an extremely entertaining occurrence. His uptight character is so completely the opposite of Poppy's personality that they can't help but clash throughout every second of every lesson. Scott's behavior is exaggerated and ridiculous, but even his character eventually gets rounded out.
Another amusingly outlandish person that Poppy encounters is her flamenco instructor (Karina Fernandez). When Poppy and her friend come to class late, the teacher says, "It's very Spanish to be late." The instructor's emotional, passionate personality eventually builds to a hysterical crescendo.
Once again, director and writer Mike Leigh employs his signature technique of having the actors create their characters and dialogue through improvisational sessions before shooting each scene. He uses this script-less method in his past films such as "Secrets and Lies" (1996) and "Vera Drake" (2004). The result is genuine characters that the actors completely embody. All of the actors are perfectly cast in their roles.
A subtle detail that makes Poppy stand out against all of the characters that she encounters is her clothing, which is outrageous -- even by hipster North London standards. Her wardrobe includes such items as bright blue striped sweaters and giant red hoop earrings. By contrast, Scott wears plain gray jackets and her flatmate wears mostly black.
Poppy really does stand out in every way. She doesn't let anything phase her, and she lives life to the fullest. She easily could have become the overly perfect character that the audience hopes will fail, but instead she is an endearing protagonist.
This quirky comedy is a great pick-me-up after midterms, breakups and other less-than-fun activities. The combination of light-hearted optimism and truly funny humor is enough to cheer anyone up.
