Happy Go Lucky (2008) Critic Reviews

Mike Leigh's mellowest work yet, and his most purely entertaining.Read the full review

Won't break your heart -- it will make it soar.Read the full review

It is that rare film that is equal parts entertaining, life-affirming and thought-provoking.Read the full review

The trouble is that the movie in which Poppy does, in fact, exist never quite rises to her level.Read the full review

While any or all of the events related during the course of the film might seem to form the backbone of an unendurably boring motion picture, everything comes alive because of Poppy.Read the full review

I thought "Topsy-Turvy" was perfection, a spirited evocation of the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, plus a blithely definitive depiction of the artistic process. Happy-Go-Lucky is perfection too, assuming you go along with its leisurely pace, which I did quite happily.Read the full review

As is always the case with Leigh's protagonists, Poppy does not fit into a schematic log line, she simply is. She exists with an intensity that few other filmmakers' characters can manage because of the singular way Leigh creates his people.Read the full review

The London universe Leigh creates (employing his trademark improv techniques to unite his ensemble, many of whom make their film debuts) isn't so much a reality as a hope, and an invitation to find joy and grace in everyday moments.Read the full review

Mr. Leigh has never been an artist for whom happy (word or idea) has been an easy fit. Life is sweet, as the title of another of his films puts it with a heart-swelling yes, but it’s also an eternal fight against doom and gloom, the soul-crushing no.Read the full review