Monday, December 15, 2008

MOVIE: Happy-Go-Lucky

Rating: Charming and fun
Viewed: Friday, Dec. 12, 2008
at the Loft, with Fran
Rotten Tomato rating: 94%
Mine: 90%
EW: A- cag: A-
Comedy
Released 10/10/08
R (1 hr 58 min)
Directed by: Mike Leigh
Golden Globe nominations for Best Comedy Motion Picture and for Best Actress, Comedy, for Sally Hawkins

Sally Hawkins plays Poppy, a 30-year old primary teacher in an English city. She is happy, upbeat, enjoys her life and her friends, and really tries to have a positive outlook on life. She seems fearless, afraid of nothing - not in a "daring" kind of way, perhaps I'd call it a "brave" way. She parties with her friends, has her bike stolen so takes driving lessons (which becomes a strong part of the storyline, since the teacher is somewhat nuts), worries about her students, and ends up with a love interest at the end...yippee! This was thoroughly enjoyable, thought-provoking, and just plain fun. One thing - you do have to listen carefully because there are points where the British accents gets pretty strong and you have to furrow your brow for a second to figure out what was said. (I went from an A to an A- because there was a segment in the movie that seemed just inserted....first Poppy was walking out in the country, amid shrubs with no city anywhere, then she ended up in a dicey part of town, interacting with an imbalanced man. It was a really interesting part of the movie, but I can't figure out exactly where it came from.)

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