Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky follows Poppy, a primary school teacher in North London who approaches life with relentless cheerfulness. She shares a flat with her friend Zoe, keeps busy with flamenco and trampoline classes, and gets on well with her pupils and sisters. When her bicycle is stolen, she decides to take driving lessons. Her instructor, Scott, is a sullen and easily irritated man who finds her good humour provoking rather than pleasant, and the friction between the two becomes a central thread of the story. Poppy also grows close to Tim, a social worker she meets through her school, while her unfailing optimism puzzles some of the people around her.

Mike Leigh wrote and directed the film, which sits between Vera Drake and Another Year in his filmography. Sally Hawkins plays Poppy, with Eddie Marsan as Scott, Alexis Zegerman as Zoe, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Stanley Townsend and Kate O'Flynn in supporting roles. It was produced by Simon Channing Williams for a budget of about 4 million dollars and took roughly 18 million dollars worldwide.

On IMDb the film holds 7 out of 10 from around 43,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.6 out of 10 from a much smaller pool of 527 votes. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 161 reviews places it above both audience scores.