Popular reviews

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  Review by Sally Jane Black ★★★★★ 1

  Sally Hawkins' performance rates with Toshiro Mifune's best in that she uses her whole body. Unlike Mifune, who is animalistic, Hawkins is squishy. Her face squishes. Her body squishes. Her movements are bubbly. She takes being bright and happy and renders it not merely tolerable but endearing by being aware of it in every movement (and in dialogue). I admit, I have a tiny crush.

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★★ 8

  perhaps nothing will put me more at ease about turning 30 than our greatest testament to the power of compassion? I spent a lot of time thinking about how my college advisor - who, for the record, had a very similar vibe to Poppy - preached the importance of what she called "active gratitude." platitudinal language aside... I simp harder for Leigh when he's doing his contemporary humanist dramedies than the period pieces, Hawkins a joy, Zegerman a joy, good for Eddie Marsan, if Andrea Riseborough was in this movie, I am a victim of Andrea Riseborough face blindness. teachers are our most important resource and we (society) treat them like shit (unrelated to film, just my observation). great movie!

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  Review by 𝔡𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔶 ★★★★★ 3

  hey everyone, women's happiness is inherently threatening to men!

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  Review by Steve G 🇵🇸 🇾🇪 ★★★★½ 18

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

  Predictably, Happy-Go-Lucky's central character, played by Sally Hawkins, has proved to be an extremely divisive figure amongst audiences. It does sadden me that's the case for a couple of different reasons, really.

  It's a shame that we are given a very rare example of a completely positive person at the centre of a film and immediately she's cast off by many as having some kind of mental impairment or being a complete emotional zombie. Even if the former was the case, seeing as though we now thankfully live in a society that is becoming more and more supportive of those with mental health issues that affect them negatively,…

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  Review by lauren ★★★★ 1

  118 minutes worth of evidence as to why sally hawkins is fit to be paddington’s mom

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  Review by andrea🌹 ★★★½

  the unspoken lesbian energy between two women sharing an apartment is probably my favorite cinema trope. the human heart was created with four chambers so i can fit poppy and her sexually ambiguous best friend on one side and frances ha and her sexually ambiguous best friend on the other

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  Review by fiffy_rico ★★★★★ 39

  Holy shit, what a great movie. Sally Hawkins is phenomenal as the protagonist Poppy Cross. I'm in love. The prospect of entering a romantic relationship with a decent (and decent-looking) bloke is refreshingly treated as a peripheral concern; homosocial bonds are what sustain Poppy and her friends.

  I don't really know what to say. I love being unsettled by films. I love dark, disturbing shit... I like movies to devastate me, creep me out. It leaves me feeling like I can rebuild myself into someone just a bit stronger each time. But Happy-Go-Lucky didn't do that. It fucked me up by making me squirm and laugh. It fucked me up by making me smile. It fucked me up by making…

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  Review by Sam Meltzer ★★★★½ 9

  The idea that femininity can be expressed through happiness rather than strength. 

  Cheerfully diverse in its color palette, contained and cozy in its cinematographic look, and personal in its direction; the feminist undertones are implemented in a focused and subtle way underneath the characteristics of the setting. Mike Leigh creates a character that is so unique, expressive, and relatable but does it in such an unconventional way. Someone that is so happy, maybe even too happy, and is exemplified through not only her sense of conversation but withal her body movements. There is so much personality from the way she physically moves, shakes, walks, and uses her hands. She has this bubbly and energetic tone to her persona that gives…

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  Review by DallasFrance ★★★★½

  At the beginning of Naked, Mike Leigh presents David Thewlis’s character as wholly malicious, attacking everyone and everything he sees. At the beginning of Happy-Go-Lucky, Leigh presents Sally Hawkins’s character as relentlessly perky, attacking everyone and everything she sees. Both protagonists  seem impossible to develop into round characters, but Leigh does it. His insight into human nature and his control of tone make his films feel lived in but profound, mundane but magical.

  
  Mike Leigh Ranked

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  Review by Allyson ★★★★★ 7

  Here are some of my thoughts on this film; It really means a lot to me.

  When people ask me if a film has changed my life ( or my outlook on life), I'm always apprehensive in providing an answer. I feel like if I claim a film to be life-changing, then something inside me must have shifted completely after the initial watch. I've been heavily and emotionally influenced by films, particularly ones where I see myself or my relationships reflected on the big screen, but I've never felt as though my path in life transformed as a result of watching a film. However, after a re-watch of Happy-Go-Lucky, I'm proudly bumping it up half a star, and I feel…

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  Review by dylan gelula ★★★★★ 4

  edged out naked for my favorite Mike Leigh movie. so, my favorite movie. I have now seen all of them except the BBC plays mr turner and peterloo...., Watch this space.....

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  Review by KYK ★★★★½

  i am so sorry because i did not appreciate mike leigh or sally hawkins enough when i first saw this. i diiiiiiid, however, recently tell jarvis cocker to watch it because i OBVIOUSLY remembered the "common people" club scene. surprised he has not before, considering he's a leigh stan.