Review of Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) by Kofi B — 11 Aug 2009

I'm not going to say I hated this or that it was awful. I just couldn't find many moments that made me want to stay enticed with the film.

It is extremely hard to spend 2 hours watching a film that has no semblance of plot yet tries to add drama. This is like watching the downtime in between Seinfeld stories in that it's just boring and even the jokes don't work.

I mean, the film literally is just the life of Poppy (Sally Hawkins) and her friends. They go to work, they encounter problems, Poppy gets driving lessons. In the end, this all just becomes tedious and monotonous.

Despite that gripe, though, what I can get into with this film is the acting and writing. Sally Hawkins is completely captivating. She brings a care-free nature to Poppy that not many actresses would be able to capture properly. What else helps flesh Poppy out is that Sally improvises a few scenes. You can tell in that the dialogue sort of repeats or just feels completely natural.

Eddie Marsan is good in his role as the driving instructor Scott. He does seem a bit dark for this film and his ultimate conclusion is extremely anticlimactic, but his back and forth with Sally is brilliant. It provides a lot of laughs during the boring segments of the story.

What I don't understand with this movie is why after an hour and 35 minutes, a tiny little subplot emerges. Poppy gets a boyfriend and suddenly Scott was supposed to be in love with her. What else kind of irks me is how Poppy's co-workers are introduced and given about 15 minutes of screen time in total. What is the point of showing she has a friend when the friend will do nothing for her?

Also, pacing seems to be completely off within this movie. There are times (like almost every scene with Scott) when the movie is brisk and feels wildly hilarious, but then you get other segments where literally nothing seems to make sense (like meeting a hobo or the love scene).

I think the downfall of this film is that it tries too hard to be a pure character study. Without any kind of plot, what are the viewers supposed to be checking for? Yeah Poppy carries herself throughout tough situations, but what is she trying to reach for?

So while I did enjoy this movie, I definitely do not believe it is that great. See it for Sally or if you just enjoy character studies that much. If you could do without another film that just wants to coast along, then skip it.