Mike Leigh’s last film was Vera Drake, a dark, visceral and foreboding look at (the lack of) abortion rights in 1950s England, and how one woman chose to act despite the potential, and eventual, consequences. Well in a way, Leigh’s new film is also about one woman’s quest to change things for the better, but this one is decidedly more light-hearted in fashion. Happy Go Lucky is a bizarre little character piece that plays like an episode of Seinfeld, as in it’s a movie about nothing. But when I say nothing, I mean nothing in particular, the fact of the matter is that Happy Go Lucky is about a great deal thematically speaking.

It’s interesting that in the year that hope won out politically in the US Presidential campaign, we meet a personality like Poppy. As played by Sally Hawkins, Poppy is a bright, cheerful, exuberant, young North London school teacher. She’s an amiable person working in an admirable profession despite the fact that everyday, her sunny disposition is tested by doubting friends, her critical sister or any one of a dozen of the surly, despondent dregs of London. Despite the obviously exasperated reactions that Poppy gets from people just because she’s being her, she keeps on smiling, joking and dressing garishly in such a way that even Phoebe Buffay would look away in disgust.

Happy Go Lucky is one of those movies where you spend some of the time wondering where it’s all going, and the other half of the time not caring if it’s leading anywhere. It’s just no big deal, that there’s no real plot development as you follow Poppy from one episode to the next. The best bits involve Poppy taking driving lessons from the acerbic and humourless Scott (Eddie Marsan) who’s also prone to road rage at times when he’s not coming across as borderline racist. In an act of sublime vaudevillian back and forth, the scenes between Poppy and Scott bring down the house at every turn to the point that whenever you see Scott’s red and black Drivers’ Ed car appear you start to giggle in anticipation.

The film has a steady momentum that kind of drags at times, but mostly it’s Hawkins’ winning charm as Poppy that makes you forget those deep valleys and remember more fondly the peaks of hilarity. Marsan, normally assigned to play psychos and henchman, gets to take that persona for a walk playing the very much high strung Scott; played against Hawkins’ loopy delivery and carefree saunter, I doubt there’s a person alive that can withstand that comedic barrage. What’s also interesting is the way that Poppy’s sunny-side up perceptions help her cope with the ugliness of life. There’s a really great scene where she helps council a student being physically abused at home, it’s here that you really feel Poppy’s attitude as the philosophy rather than she just acts odd for oddness’ sake.

Now, watching this film I was struck by the similarities to Amélie, the French film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, which was also about a young woman whose unique charms affect those around her. I can see the some people would cry copycat, but Leigh’s film de-emphasizes flights of fancy in favour of a grounded reality. I also appreciate that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea; I certainly read some online reaction that said some very harsh things about Poppy and her whimsy-takes-all attitude. But for the majority, i.e.: those without a sardonic manner bordering on paralyzing cynicism, this is definitely a movie you can get in to and walk away smiling from.