MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 313 this week

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

R  |   |  Comedy, Drama  |  21 November 2008 (USA)
7.0
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.0/10 from 30,899 users   Metascore: 84/100
Reviews: 195 user | 217 critic | 34 from Metacritic.com

A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

Watch Now

From $2.99 on Amazon Video

ON DISC

The 25 Most Immersive Worlds in Cinema

Highly immersive cinematic worlds can carry a movie, and we've rounded up the best of the best.

See the full list

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 25 titles
created 07 Oct 2012
 
a list of 24 titles
created 24 Feb 2013
 
a list of 44 titles
created 23 Jul 2013
 
a list of 43 titles
created 10 months ago
 
a list of 37 titles
created 10 months ago
 

Related Items

Search for "Happy-Go-Lucky" on Amazon.com

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) on IMDb 7/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Happy-Go-Lucky.

User Polls

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 38 wins & 51 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Another Year (2010)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A look at four seasons in the lives of a happily married couple and their relationships with their family and friends.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville
Vera Drake (2004)
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

Abortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain--a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, Heather Craney
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A successful black woman discovers that her birth mother is a lower-class white woman, but the woman denies it. As emotions run high, everyone's secrets are exposed.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry. He is a gentle, philosophical guy, and she works on the checkout at a supermarket. Their daughter Rachel cleans in a home for ... See full summary »

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen
Career Girls (1997)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

2 young women reunite and rekindle their friendship after having said goodbye at their college graduation, six years earlier.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Katrin Cartlidge, Lynda Steadman, Kate Byers
Life Is Sweet (1990)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A waitress, her cook husband, & their twin daughters ponder their lives over a few weeks in a working-class suburb north of London.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner
High Hopes (1988)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Slice-of-life look at a sweet working-class couple in London, Shirley and Cyril, his mother, who's aging quickly and becoming forgetful, mum's ghastly upper-middle-class neighbors, and ... See full summary »

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré
Naked (1993)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Parallel tales of two sexually obsessed men, one hurting and annoying women physically and mentally, one wandering around the city talking to strangers and experiencing dimensions of life.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge
Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Biography | Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

After Gilbert and Sullivan's latest play is critically panned, the frustrated team threatens to disband until it is inspired to write the masterpiece "The Mikado."

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher
Bleak Moments (1971)
Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

Moments from the uncompromisingly bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually disabled sister, aloof and uneasy teacher boyfriend, bizarre neighbor and irritating workmate.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Anne Raitt, Sarah Stephenson, Eric Allan
Mr. Turner (2014)
Biography | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life.

Director: Mike Leigh
Stars: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson
Biography | Comedy | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A dramatization of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination.

Director: Nigel Cole
Stars: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Andrea Riseborough
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
Bookshop Assistant
...
Zoe
...
Dawn
...
Alice (as Sinéad Matthews)
...
Suzy
Sarah Niles ...
Tash
...
...
Suzy's Boyfriend
...
Anna Reynolds ...
Receptionist
...
Trevor Cooper ...
Patient
...
...
Flamenco Student
Edit

Storyline

Poppy Cross is happy-go-lucky. At 30, she lives in Camden: cheeky, playful, frank while funny, and talkative to strangers. She's a conscientious and exuberant primary-school teacher, flatmates with Zoe, her long-time friend; she's close to one sister, and not so close to another. In this slice of life story, we watch her take driving lessons from Scott, a dour and tightly-wound instructor, take classes in flamenco dance from a fiery Spaniard, encounter a tramp in the night, and sort out a student's aggressive behavior with a social worker's help. Along the way, we wonder if her open attitude puts her at risk of misunderstanding or worse. What is the root of happiness? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

The one movie this fall that will put a smile on your face.

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

| |  »

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

21 November 2008 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Happy-go-lucky  »

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£385,190 (UK) (18 April 2008)

Gross:

$3,494,485 (USA) (16 January 2009)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

|

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Poppy was written specifically for Sally Hawkins. See more »

Goofs

Poppy cycles South of the river over Blackfriars Bridge but gets off in postcode EC1 (shown on a road sign), which is north of the river. A minute later, when she walks into a shop, she's in SE1 - which is where she should have ended up. See more »

Quotes

Title Card: [first lines]
Poppy: [pulls out book from shelf] The Road to Reality...
[smiles and pushes the book back]
Poppy: Don't wanna be going there!
[laughs]
See more »

Connections

Featured in Behind the Wheel of Happy-Go-Lucky (2009) See more »

Soundtracks

I'm So Excited
Written by Trevor Lawrence, Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer
Published and Licensed Courtesy of EMI Music Publishing Ltd
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
The Age Of Wisdom
7 October 2008 | by (Los Angeles, USA) – See all my reviews

An optimistic tale from Mike Leigh of all people. This is one of those films in which everything comes gloriously together. It is impossible to imagine it without Sally Hawkins. This is one case in which actress and character merge into one spectacular creation. In fact Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky and Melissa Leo in Frozen River are the two best female performances I've seen in a long, long time. Sally Hawkins's Poppy is a teacher a wise, compassionate, strong, extraordinary teacher. She seems totally unaware of it but we are not. All she knows is that she loves her job. That feeling, if true, can be very contagious. We fall for her not because some kind of gimmick but because her truth precedes her and we learn to know her and respect her almost immediately. As if this wasn't enough, she's very, very, funny.


65 of 113 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Extremely difficult to watch grynai
What was the point in the scene with the tramp? crashbee
Poppy is a Metaphor for America negritude
Scott's statement 'You just want to be adored': true? NumeroOne
People are jelous of Poppy because they have no balls! jlnewton147
I don't want to be like Scott faluvegi-1
Discuss Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?