HAPPY-GO-LUCKY — NYFF 2008

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Director Mike Leigh creates an air-headed vision of inner contentment in the guise of 30-year-old British primary school teacher and student driver Poppy (played by Sally Hawkins).

Poppy is so good at putting on a happy face that you sense she may be taking advantage of chemical assistance.

Though chirpy Poppy is able to mend the ways of a young misfit student in her class, she has a significantly tougher time with her borderline-racist driving teacher Scott (exquisitely played by Eddie Marsan), who becomes the heel of the movie's social joke about the world’s happy-haves and the unhappy-have-nots.

Poppy's inability to help one so desperate as Scott, becomes the central theme that breaks the narrative from justifying Poppy’s selfish nature or lacking intelligence.

The movie does transform the audience into a conduit for some movie magic bliss, but "you have to like a film for the right reasons." Leigh (most famous for his sensational family drama "Secrets and Lies") used his traditional system of improvising with his actors for an extended period to develop the story and performances.

"Happy-Go-Lucky" takes a naturalistic approach at odds with a puff piece about the small glories of keeping an upbeat attitude regardless of circumstance.

Get happy.

Rated R. 118 mins.