Home What's On DVD Reviews

Happy-Go-Lucky (15)

Aug 16 2008

DIRECTOR Mike Leigh's last movie was the seriously sombre Vera Drake three years ago and starred Sally Hawkins as Susan. Now the London-born actress is playing a very happy primary school teacher called Poppy.

Leigh hangs the entire film on Poppy's extraordinary ability to be delirious most of the time - almost as if she's just walked out of The X Factor group, Same Difference.

This film only opened on one cinema screen in Birmingham, but Sally's performance is worth catching alone. Leigh typically contrives a classic family gathering full of embarrassing moments that are as cutting as any western shoot-out, but the film primarily illustrates how there's nothing wrong with people being happy in their own bubble.

News AlertsForums

Read more DVD Reviews

The Mist (15)

ORIGINALLY published as a novella in 1980, Stephen King’s story was apparently inspired by a supermarket visit with his son when the author imagined a prehistoric bird flapping around inside. Now it’s a full-blown movie. Read

Speed Racer (PG)

HOLLYWOOD returns to the race track again after similar films like Sylvester Stallone’s Driven, Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights and Pixar’s animated Cars Read

Site Tools