Mini-Review: Happy-Go-Lucky

All right, after my brain-bustingly long review of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," AKA "Let's Give Brad Pitt Some Funny Makeup," I promise to make my future mini-reviews a little more...mini, I suppose.

No better way to begin than with a review of my latest conquest, "Happy-Go-Lucky." It's the newest film from Mike Leigh, a man whose never been accused of being happy-go-lucky, or even happy at all. I've never seen any of his other films, but I understand most of them involve angst. Some may include moping.

"Happy-Go-Lucky" has neither. It's the story of Poppy Cross (Sally Hawkins), a perpetually (and sometimes gratingly) optimistic London school teacher. Poppy always sees the bright side of things. When somebody swipes her bike, her only response is to chuckle and say "I never even got a chance to say goodbye!" She remains upbeat during a visit to the chiropractor, giggling even as her misaligned vertebrate are snapped back into place. Now that's some serious sunniness.

There's really no plot to "Happy-Go-Lucky." It's just a serious of setpieces to show how damn happy Poppy is. Thankfully, it never feels contrived. Though Poppy may be absurdly enthusiastic, she never seems fake. She acts like a real person, albeit a real person drugged to the gills with some kind of euphoria-inducing toxin.

More important, the other characters aren't universally charmed by Poppy's optimism. That's good; that's how it would be in real life. Most like Poppy, of course, because it's hard not to. But there a few dissenters. Chief among them is Poppy's dour driving instructor, Scott, a (literally) foul-mouthed religious zealot who refuses to be won over. The story of Poppy vs. Scott is the closest thing the movie has to a conflict, though it's pretty one sides. Who are you going to root for: the winsome school teacher, or the guy who thinks the government is run by Satanists?

What else is there to say about the movie? You need to see it for yourself, not because it's a great movie, but because that's the only way you can judge it. Either you'll find Poppy appealing, or you won't. I did, at least for most of the movie.

I admit to scoffing at some points. "Oh, come on," I thought during the scene at the chiropractors, "Not even the most blissed-out stoner would giggle during a procedure like that!" Heck, at times I even sympathized with Scott. I imagine that living with a perpetual optimist would be just as bad as living with a perpetual pessimist. We don't dislike them for their pessimism or their optimism. We just want them to show a little variety.

But Poppy charmed me in the end. She's a sweet character in a sweet, inconsequential movie. I recommend it. I also recommend whatever it was Poppy was taking. It looks pretty potent.