I have to write it, I just have to comment on the very dumb, unintelligent criticism written by the likes of grynai or kprp about this film. They completely do not got it. For me it is a wonderful, extremely well written and acted movie. Fluffy at first sight, barely enough to hold one's interest for 90 mins at first sight, but it is only a facade! This film is about more than 15 average Hollywood dramas together. It is about a simple philosophy of life and how our attitude shapes our experiences. It is about being grateful for little things and the importance of being negative or positive. It is about what life is all about, does it have to be about getting new things, status or family? Or maybe not? When does one's life acquire sense or meaning, only when we "achieve"?? It was so very refreshing for me to see for once a female character who says that without a husband or kids her life is still excellent and very satisfactory. We have been brain-washed by the comedies or dramas, or TV series like Sex and the City, where women lose self-respect if they do not get a male couple. Let's take even the intelligent protagonists of the intelligent Sex and the City - they can heave super jobs, money, health, hobbies and friends, and they live in modern New York, yet we are told that it all means nothing without a relationship with a man, who obligatorily has to have a well functioning c**k. And to say that Poppy has no feelings for other people? That she is insensitive? How ignorant a viewer must be to have this opinion? I cannot even imagine, maybe they watched a different movie? Just the scene when Poppy has the argument with the driving instructor tells us clearly otherwise, yet apparently it is not enough for some viewers. I wish I were more like her, I know in her place I would throw away the car keys and go away angry, or maybe also threaten the guy with a restraining order. But I think, and I am glad for that, that there are probably surprisingly many people similar to Poppy in real life, living optimistically and fully their simple, on the surface meaningless lives with dignity and politeness. It is a film that despite apparent simplicity defies clichés, we expect that finally something really bad will happen to her but it does not, that the school shrink will turn out nasty yet he does not. It is a film where good things can happen to good people, which I can see in too few films. It is a film that deceptively leaves one with a warm feeling despite including various shades of evil of the life around: we see a disturbed child, we hear of the child abuse, we witness an unhappy, lonely, semi-autistic, homeless person, we see darkness and possible violence in a driving instructor, we see lack of communication or closeness between sisters... Enough yet done in an interesting, subversive, skewed way. A wonderful little film that says a much about life and the "common" people.
Review of Happy-Go-Lucky
