Happy-Go-Lucky
Encyclopedia
Happy-Go-Lucky is a 2008 British Comedy-drama
film written and directed by Mike Leigh
. The screenplay focuses on a cheerful and optimistic primary-school teacher and her relationships with those around her. The film was well received by critics and resulted in a number of awards for Leigh, lead actress Sally Hawkins
and supporting actor Eddie Marsan
.
flat with her best friend Zoe, a fellow teacher. Poppy is free-minded, high-spirited, very kind and somewhat crazy. The film opens with a high-spirited Poppy trying to engage a shop employee in a conversation. He blatantly ignores her, yet this does not bother her. She maintains her good mood even when she discovers her bicycle has been stolen. Her main concern is not getting a new one or finding the bicycle, but that she did not get a chance to say goodbye.
When Poppy takes driving lessons for the first time, her positive attitude contrasts starkly with her gloomy, intolerant and cynical driving instructor, Scott, who is emotionally repressed, has anger problems and becomes extremely agitated by improper driving. He believes in conspiracy theories partly attributable to his racist and misogynistic views. This makes it hard for him to get along with others. Angered by Poppy's sunny personality and what he perceives as a lack of responsibility and concern for driving safety, Scott is exceptionally irritated by Poppy's choice of footwear (a pair of high-heeled boots), which he feels compromises her ability to drive. From the outset he feels Poppy does not take her lessons seriously and is careless.
Scott, however, is not in a position to observe the behaviour which might belie his feelings about his new pupil. Poppy is devoted to her students, but her life isn't dominated by her vocation. She takes flamenco
lessons and a trampoline class, and enjoys an occasional evening at the local pub.
At school Poppy observes one of her pupils bullying his classmates. Rather than becoming angry, she worries about him. A social worker, Tim, is brought in to handle the boy's case. Through Tim and the pupil's interactions, the latter reveals that his mother's boyfriend has been beating him. Tim and Poppy begin dating.
Poppy, Zoe, and Poppy's younger sister, Suzy, go to visit another sister, Helen, who lives with her husband in Southend-on-Sea
and is pregnant. Helen proves to be a very judgemental person and tells Poppy she needs to "take life seriously", "not get drunk every night" and plan for the future. Poppy responds that she is happy with her life as it is. Helen tries to convince Poppy to be more responsible, condescendingly telling her she's too childish, but is ultimately ignored.
Returning home, Poppy sees Scott standing across the street from her flat, and when she calls his name he runs away. When she confronts him he insists he had been visiting his mother in Stevenage
at the time she saw him. Scott drives erratically while ranting against other drivers and society. When he gives Poppy the keys to his car, she tells him he is in no condition to give a driving lesson and she will drive him home. Scott tries to get his keys back, then in a long, rambling diatribe accuses Poppy of trying to seduce him, revealing beneath his rage strong amicable feelings for her. Unable to reason with him, Poppy waits until he has calmed down then gives the keys back, telling him the lesson will be their last.
The film ends with Poppy and Zoe rowing a boat in Regent's Park
, as Poppy takes a mobile phone call from Tim, and Zoe advises Poppy to think about "giving up being nice to everyone." Poppy dismisses the advice, cheerfully but not naively.
. It was made and distributed with the assistance of National Lottery
funding through the UK Film Council
, with £1.2 million awarded to the production company, and a further £210,000 awarded to the film's UK distributor.
The film was shot on location in Camden Lock
, Camden Market
, Regent’s Park, Stroud Green
, Finsbury Park
, Lambeth
, and Tufnell Park
in London and Southend-on-Sea
in Essex
.
In Behind the Wheel of Happy-Go-Lucky, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, director Leigh, cinematographer Dick Pope, and stars Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan discuss the logistics of filming the lengthy scenes in which Poppy is learning how to drive. Five miniature cameras were hidden throughout the vehicle, and at times Leigh was wedged on the floor behind the front seats. Although the actors were required to adhere to basic plot premises, a large percentage of their dialogue was improvised, forcing them to react to stimuli outside the car and interact in character while concentrating on their driving.
In Happy-in-Character, another DVD bonus feature, Leigh and the actors discuss how the director works with his cast one-on-one to help them fully create their characters before actual filming begins. Because Scott is such a troubled individual, Eddie Marsan thought he was preparing for a heavy drama, and it wasn't until he started working with Sally Hawkins that he realized how funny the film actually was.
The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
and was shown at the Dublin Film Festival before going into theatrical release in the UK on 18 April 2008. It later was featured at the Telluride Film Festival
, the Toronto International Film Festival
, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival
, the Athens Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival
, the Morelia Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival
, the Warsaw International FilmFest, and the Tokyo International Film Festival
.
reported 93% of critics were positive about the film, based on 141 reviews.
Peter Bradshaw
of The Guardian
rated the film four out of five stars and said, "Mike Leigh's trademarked cartoony dialogue, as ever lending a neo-Dickensian
compression and intensity to the proceedings, is an acquired taste and I have gladly acquired it, though some haven't. I am not quite sure what I think about the big, final confrontation between Poppy and Scott. It is well-acted and composed, and Marsan is ferociously convincing, yet the episode is closed off a little too neatly, and Poppy seems eerily unaffected by this or anything else. The effect is a kind of odd and steely invulnerability: not unattractive exactly, but disconcerting. Hawkins plays it superbly though: exactly right for the part and utterly at ease with a role that is uniquely demanding. In the factory-farmed blandness of the movies, Happy-Go-Lucky has a strong, real taste."
Philip French
of The Observer
called the film "as funny, serious, life-affirming and beautifully performed as anything Leigh has done, but with a lightness of touch only previously found in his Gilbert and Sullivan
movie, Topsy-Turvy
."
Manohla Dargis
of the New York Times called the film "so closely tuned to the pulse of communal life, to the rhythms of how people work, play and struggle together, it captures the larger picture along with the smaller. Like Poppy, the bright focus of this expansive, moving film, Mr. Leigh isn’t one to go it alone. Played by a glorious Sally Hawkins — a gurgling, burbling stream of gasps, giggles and words — Poppy . . . keeps moving forward and dancing and jumping and laughing and nodding her dark, delicate head as if she were agreeing not just with this or that friend but also with life itself. She’s altogether charming or perhaps maddening — much depends on whether you wear rose-colored specs — recognizably human and every inch a calculated work of art."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
rated the film four stars and called Sally Hawkins "a joy to behold." He added, "This is Mike Leigh's funniest film since Life Is Sweet
. Of course he hasn't ever made a completely funny film, and Happy-Go-Lucky has scenes that are not funny, not at all. There are always undercurrents and oddness."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
rated the film 3½ out of four stars and commented, "Get ready for Sally Hawkins, a dynamo of an actress who will have her way with you in Happy-Go-Lucky, leaving you enchanted, enraged to the point of madness and utterly dazzled. No list of the year's best performances should be made without her." He added, "In lesser hands, the film would go off the deep end into cheap theatrics. But Leigh . . . keeps the emotions in balance by keeping them real. There's something raw in Hawkins that wins our empathy for Poppy. Thanks to her, Happy-Go-Lucky is more than a movie, it's a gift."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
stated, "The key to enjoying the film, a minor effort by Leigh, is warming up to Poppy. Her bubbly personality may be too much for some. She's like a walking, talking smiley face. Fortunately, as Leigh proved in Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake
, he has a keen eye for actresses, and he has found in Sally Hawkins the consummate Poppy."
Time Out London observed "You know you’re watching something both delightfully light-footed and acutely meaningful when Leigh moves so nimbly between scenes at Poppy’s school, her flamenco class and her driving lessons . . . It’s a funny film . . . and, crucially, it aches with truth."
, Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter
, Shawn Levy
of The Oregonian
, Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer
, David Edelstein
of New York
, Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News, Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle, Michael Sragow
of The Baltimore Sun
, Kenneth Turan
of the Los Angeles Times
, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post
, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
, Dennis Harvey of Variety
, and Steve Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer
. Also, Armond White of the New York Press named Happy Go Lucky the best film of 2008.
format with an audio track in English and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter/director Mike Leigh, Behind the Wheel of Happy-Go-Lucky, and Happy-in-Character.
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film written and directed by Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
. The screenplay focuses on a cheerful and optimistic primary-school teacher and her relationships with those around her. The film was well received by critics and resulted in a number of awards for Leigh, lead actress Sally Hawkins
Sally Hawkins
Sally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress. Her performance as Poppy in the 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky won her several international awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy...
and supporting actor Eddie Marsan
Eddie Marsan
Edward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
.
Synopsis
Thirty years old and single, Pauline "Poppy" Cross shares a LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
flat with her best friend Zoe, a fellow teacher. Poppy is free-minded, high-spirited, very kind and somewhat crazy. The film opens with a high-spirited Poppy trying to engage a shop employee in a conversation. He blatantly ignores her, yet this does not bother her. She maintains her good mood even when she discovers her bicycle has been stolen. Her main concern is not getting a new one or finding the bicycle, but that she did not get a chance to say goodbye.
When Poppy takes driving lessons for the first time, her positive attitude contrasts starkly with her gloomy, intolerant and cynical driving instructor, Scott, who is emotionally repressed, has anger problems and becomes extremely agitated by improper driving. He believes in conspiracy theories partly attributable to his racist and misogynistic views. This makes it hard for him to get along with others. Angered by Poppy's sunny personality and what he perceives as a lack of responsibility and concern for driving safety, Scott is exceptionally irritated by Poppy's choice of footwear (a pair of high-heeled boots), which he feels compromises her ability to drive. From the outset he feels Poppy does not take her lessons seriously and is careless.
Scott, however, is not in a position to observe the behaviour which might belie his feelings about his new pupil. Poppy is devoted to her students, but her life isn't dominated by her vocation. She takes flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
lessons and a trampoline class, and enjoys an occasional evening at the local pub.
At school Poppy observes one of her pupils bullying his classmates. Rather than becoming angry, she worries about him. A social worker, Tim, is brought in to handle the boy's case. Through Tim and the pupil's interactions, the latter reveals that his mother's boyfriend has been beating him. Tim and Poppy begin dating.
Poppy, Zoe, and Poppy's younger sister, Suzy, go to visit another sister, Helen, who lives with her husband in Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
and is pregnant. Helen proves to be a very judgemental person and tells Poppy she needs to "take life seriously", "not get drunk every night" and plan for the future. Poppy responds that she is happy with her life as it is. Helen tries to convince Poppy to be more responsible, condescendingly telling her she's too childish, but is ultimately ignored.
Returning home, Poppy sees Scott standing across the street from her flat, and when she calls his name he runs away. When she confronts him he insists he had been visiting his mother in Stevenage
Stevenage
Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
at the time she saw him. Scott drives erratically while ranting against other drivers and society. When he gives Poppy the keys to his car, she tells him he is in no condition to give a driving lesson and she will drive him home. Scott tries to get his keys back, then in a long, rambling diatribe accuses Poppy of trying to seduce him, revealing beneath his rage strong amicable feelings for her. Unable to reason with him, Poppy waits until he has calmed down then gives the keys back, telling him the lesson will be their last.
The film ends with Poppy and Zoe rowing a boat in Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
, as Poppy takes a mobile phone call from Tim, and Zoe advises Poppy to think about "giving up being nice to everyone." Poppy dismisses the advice, cheerfully but not naively.
Production
The film is Mike Leigh's first film shot in in the 2.35 aspect ratio anamorphic formatAnamorphic format
Anamorphic format is a term that can be used either for: the cinematography technique of capturing a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film, or other visual recording media, with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio; or a photographic projection format in which the original image requires an...
. It was made and distributed with the assistance of National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
funding through the UK Film Council
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...
, with £1.2 million awarded to the production company, and a further £210,000 awarded to the film's UK distributor.
The film was shot on location in Camden Lock
Camden Lock
Camden Lock, or Hampstead Road Locks is a twin manually-operated lock on the Regent's Canal in Camden Town, London Borough of Camden. The sign on each of the twin locks reads "Hampstead Road Lock 1"...
, Camden Market
Camden Market
The Camden Markets are a number of adjoining large markets in Camden Town near the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent's Canal , often called collectively "Camden Market" or "Camden Lock". The stalls sell crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, fast food, and other things...
, Regent’s Park, Stroud Green
Stroud Green, London
Stroud Green is the name of a suburb located adjacent to Finsbury Park in north London, England. Stroud Green ward is within the London Borough of Haringey. On its south-western side the Stroud Green Road forms part of the boundary with the London Borough of Islington...
, Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park is a 46 hectare public park in the London Borough of Haringey. Officially part of the London area of Harringay, it is also adjacent to Stroud Green, the Finsbury Park district and Manor House. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian...
, Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, and Tufnell Park
Tufnell Park
Tufnell Park is an area of north London, England which straddles the border of the London Borough of Islington and the London Borough of Camden.-Origins:...
in London and Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
In Behind the Wheel of Happy-Go-Lucky, a bonus feature on the DVD release of the film, director Leigh, cinematographer Dick Pope, and stars Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan discuss the logistics of filming the lengthy scenes in which Poppy is learning how to drive. Five miniature cameras were hidden throughout the vehicle, and at times Leigh was wedged on the floor behind the front seats. Although the actors were required to adhere to basic plot premises, a large percentage of their dialogue was improvised, forcing them to react to stimuli outside the car and interact in character while concentrating on their driving.
In Happy-in-Character, another DVD bonus feature, Leigh and the actors discuss how the director works with his cast one-on-one to help them fully create their characters before actual filming begins. Because Scott is such a troubled individual, Eddie Marsan thought he was preparing for a heavy drama, and it wasn't until he started working with Sally Hawkins that he realized how funny the film actually was.
The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
and was shown at the Dublin Film Festival before going into theatrical release in the UK on 18 April 2008. It later was featured at the Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
, the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, the Athens Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute. Known as a filmmakers’ festival, the annual Mill Valley Film Festival offers a non-competitive environment for exhibiting independent and world cinema.Founded in 1978 by MVFF...
, the Morelia Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
, the Warsaw International FilmFest, and the Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
.
Cast
- Sally HawkinsSally HawkinsSally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress. Her performance as Poppy in the 2008 film Happy-Go-Lucky won her several international awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy...
..... Pauline "Poppy" Cross - Eddie MarsanEddie MarsanEdward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
..... Scott - Alexis ZegermanAlexis Zegerman-Background and career:She grew up in London and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.-Film and TV actress:She is probably most famous as Zoe, Poppy's best friend and roommate, in Oscar-nominated Mike Leigh's comedy-drama film Happy-Go-Lucky for which she won a British Independent Film...
..... Zoe - Andrea RiseboroughAndrea Riseborough-Early life:Riseborough grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working-class Thatcherites"....
..... Dawn - Sinead MatthewsSinead MatthewsSinead Matthews is an English actress.She was born in Coventry. She attended Coventry's Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and Language College, and studied A-level Drama at Stratford Upon Avon College between 1996 and 1998. She graduated from RADA in 2003, and made her television debut in the 2004...
..... Alice - Sylvestra Le TouzelSylvestra Le TouzelSylvestra Le Touzel is a British television, film and stage actor who was born on Jersey in the Channel Islands and raised in Kensington, London. She was schooled in East Acton.-TV:...
..... Heather - Samuel RoukinSamuel RoukinSamuel Roukin is an English actor.Roukin was born in Southport, and currently lives in Kentish Town, North London. He displayed an interest in drama from an early age...
..... Tim - Caroline Martin ..... Helen
- Karina FernandezKarina FernandezKarina Fernandez is a British actress of Spanish descent. She is best known for her performances in two of Mike Leigh's films - Another Year and Happy-Go-Lucky.-Theatre:...
..... Flamenco teacher
Critical reception
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported 93% of critics were positive about the film, based on 141 reviews.
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
rated the film four out of five stars and said, "Mike Leigh's trademarked cartoony dialogue, as ever lending a neo-Dickensian
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
compression and intensity to the proceedings, is an acquired taste and I have gladly acquired it, though some haven't. I am not quite sure what I think about the big, final confrontation between Poppy and Scott. It is well-acted and composed, and Marsan is ferociously convincing, yet the episode is closed off a little too neatly, and Poppy seems eerily unaffected by this or anything else. The effect is a kind of odd and steely invulnerability: not unattractive exactly, but disconcerting. Hawkins plays it superbly though: exactly right for the part and utterly at ease with a role that is uniquely demanding. In the factory-farmed blandness of the movies, Happy-Go-Lucky has a strong, real taste."
Philip French
Philip French
Philip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at the direct grant Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been...
of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
called the film "as funny, serious, life-affirming and beautifully performed as anything Leigh has done, but with a lightness of touch only previously found in his Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
movie, Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert...
."
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of the New York Times called the film "so closely tuned to the pulse of communal life, to the rhythms of how people work, play and struggle together, it captures the larger picture along with the smaller. Like Poppy, the bright focus of this expansive, moving film, Mr. Leigh isn’t one to go it alone. Played by a glorious Sally Hawkins — a gurgling, burbling stream of gasps, giggles and words — Poppy . . . keeps moving forward and dancing and jumping and laughing and nodding her dark, delicate head as if she were agreeing not just with this or that friend but also with life itself. She’s altogether charming or perhaps maddening — much depends on whether you wear rose-colored specs — recognizably human and every inch a calculated work of art."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
rated the film four stars and called Sally Hawkins "a joy to behold." He added, "This is Mike Leigh's funniest film since Life Is Sweet
Life Is Sweet (film)
Life Is Sweet is a 1991 British film directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent, Alison Steadman, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks and Timothy Spall. Leigh's third cinematic film, it was his most commercially successful title at the time of its release...
. Of course he hasn't ever made a completely funny film, and Happy-Go-Lucky has scenes that are not funny, not at all. There are always undercurrents and oddness."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
rated the film 3½ out of four stars and commented, "Get ready for Sally Hawkins, a dynamo of an actress who will have her way with you in Happy-Go-Lucky, leaving you enchanted, enraged to the point of madness and utterly dazzled. No list of the year's best performances should be made without her." He added, "In lesser hands, the film would go off the deep end into cheap theatrics. But Leigh . . . keeps the emotions in balance by keeping them real. There's something raw in Hawkins that wins our empathy for Poppy. Thanks to her, Happy-Go-Lucky is more than a movie, it's a gift."
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
stated, "The key to enjoying the film, a minor effort by Leigh, is warming up to Poppy. Her bubbly personality may be too much for some. She's like a walking, talking smiley face. Fortunately, as Leigh proved in Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake
Vera Drake
Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions...
, he has a keen eye for actresses, and he has found in Sally Hawkins the consummate Poppy."
Time Out London observed "You know you’re watching something both delightfully light-footed and acutely meaningful when Leigh moves so nimbly between scenes at Poppy’s school, her flamenco class and her driving lessons . . . It’s a funny film . . . and, crucially, it aches with truth."
Top ten lists
The film was cited as one of the ten best films of 2008 by many critics, including Manohla Dargis, Stephen Holden, and A.O. Scott of the New York Times, Liam Lacey of The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
, Shawn Levy
Shawn Anthony Levy
Shawn Anthony Levy is an American film critic, author and blogger.Born in New York City, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine, Levy has been the film critic of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon since 1997. He is a former Senior Editor...
of The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
, Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
, David Edelstein
David Edelstein
David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
of New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
, Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News, Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle, Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow is a film critic and columnist who has written for The Baltimore Sun, The New Times, The New Yorker , The Atlantic and salon.com...
of The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
, Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Dennis Harvey of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, and Steve Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
. Also, Armond White of the New York Press named Happy Go Lucky the best film of 2008.
Awards
| Awards ceremony | Award Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards Academy Awards An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers... |
Best Original Screenplay | Mike Leigh Mike Leigh Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s... |
Nominated |
| Berlin International Film Festival Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978... |
Golden Berlin Bear | - | Nominated |
| Silver Berlin Bear (Best Actress) | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Boston Society of Film Critics The Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the... |
Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won |
| British Independent Film Awards British Independent Film Awards The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British... |
Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | Eddie Marsan | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Alexis Zegerman | Won | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated |
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Movie | - | Nominated |
| Best Director | Mike Leigh | Won | |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Eddie Marsan | Won | |
| Best Original Screenplay | Mike Leigh | Nominated | |
| Detroit Film Critics Awards 2008 | Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated |
| Best Supporting Actor | Eddie Marsan | Nominated | |
| European Film Awards | Best Film | - | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated | |
| Golden Globes Awards | Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical | - | Nominated |
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Hollywood Film Festival | Hollywood Breakthrough Award | Sally Hawkins | Won |
| London Film Critics Awards | British Film of the Year | - | Nominated |
| British Director of the Year | Mike Leigh | Nominated | |
| Best British Actress | Sally Hawkins | Nominated | |
| Best British Supporting Actor | Eddie Marsan | Won | |
| Best British Supporting Actress | Alexis Zegerman | Nominated | |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Screenplay | Mike Leigh | Won |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards New York Film Critics Circle Awards New York Film Critics' Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. It is considered one of the most important precursors to the Academy Awards.... |
Best Director | Mike Leigh | Won |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Eddie Marsan | Nominated | |
| New York Film Critics Online Awards 2008 New York Film Critics Online Awards 2008 The 8th New York Film Critics Online Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2008, were given on 15 December 2008.-Top 10 films:*Che*A Christmas Tale *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button... |
Best Films Top 10 | - | Won |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Norwegian International Film Festival Norwegian International Film Festival The Norwegian International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Haugesund, Norway. The festival goes back to 1973.In 1985, the Amanda award was instituted. The Amanda is awarded every year at the festival in different movie categories... |
Most Enjoyable Film (Theatre Owners) | Mike Leigh | Won |
| Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival The Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival which is held annually in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula arena since 1954. The festival is usually held in the summer, in July or August.... |
Best Director (Foreign) | Mike Leigh | Won |
| San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards are given annually to honor fine achievements in filmmaking by an organization of film reviewers from San Francisco-based publications.... |
Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won |
| Satellite Awards Satellite Awards 2008 The winners of the 13th Annual Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television in 2008, were announced on December 14, 2008.-Top 10 films:*Ballast*Changeling*Doubt*The Dark Knight*Frost/Nixon*Frozen River*Milk... |
Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical | - | Won |
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Women Film Journalists Awards | Best Film | - | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Sally Hawkins | Won | |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Eddie Marsan | Nominated | |
| Best Ensemble Cast | Whole cast | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay, Original | Mike Leigh | Nominated |
DVD release
The Region 1 DVD was released on 10 March 2009. It is in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format with an audio track in English and subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter/director Mike Leigh, Behind the Wheel of Happy-Go-Lucky, and Happy-in-Character.