Movie Review with an Attitude

So it was my turn to pick the movie rental last night, and the store had #3 on my list: "Happy Go Lucky." It was on my list because of the wonderful glowing reviews it received, like this one in the NYT -- and this one in Rolling Stone -- and this one from Roger Ebert.

Well I must be crazy, because I think the movie sucked!!! How can all of these reviews be so wrong? OR why is it that I don't see the inherent beauty and value that the reviewers have assigned to the movie and its lead actress? Lucky for me, my husband hated the movie even more than I did, so I'm not feeling too crazy.

I'm not going to waste my time going over the plot, cast, etc. You can get that from the reviews if you want. I'm going to write down in plain English exactly what bothered me about the movie.

1. This girl is just plain annoying. Kudos to the actress for her acting technique, unless she's just annoying like that in real life. But the central character of Poppy got under my skin and annoyed the piss out of me. With her hiccuping giggles interrupting each sentence (with a heavy British accent and slang), Poppy made me want to slap her silly and tell her to talk like a normal person. The character struck me as the kind of person who works so hard to be "different" and wants nothing more than to stand out in society.

2. There was virtually no arc to the story line until the last ten minutes. Here's the gist: Poppy drinks and dances, Poppy's hungover, Poppy goes to flamenco class, Poppy teaches grade school, Poppy jumps on a trampoline, Poppy gets in HUGE FIGHT WITH DRIVING INSTRUCTOR, Poppy rows boat on lake with roommate. The end.

3. So in my opinion the fight with the driving instructor was the best part of the movie, although I thought it would lead to some sort of change in Poppy's life and I was disappointed to find her back to her loud, obnoxious self. Basically, the driving instructor, Scott, is a straight-as-an-arrow type of guy, who insults Poppy by ignoring her bubbly small talk and instead sternly tells her the rules of driving. The more stern he gets, the more giggly and smugly flirtatious Poppy becomes. Basically, he has a little breakdown and tells her that for weeks she has been cruelly flirting with him, flashing him in her revealing clothes, taunting him with her sexual comments and doing everything to make him want her while knowing he can't have her.

You can see on Poppy's face as he screams these things at her that she realizes her behavior has had some unintended consequences. I was hoping she would understand that her irreverence and disregard for the serious side of life had hurt someone (and actually driven him a bit mad). But in the final scene, we see her come to the conclusion that Scott is the one with the problem and that's too bad because it's not going to stop her from being carefree and silly. *ARRGH* It makes me mad just to type that! There is room in life for both optimism and respect for others, but this movie just doesn't address that.

4. Which leads me to my final annoyance. I was so flipping annoyed by Poppy's lack of respect for authority. I'm not saying I'm against political protestors or union organizers or lawsuits against churches. But I'm saying if a dance teacher is standing in the front of the room, you give them your full attention and the quiet they deserve to teach a class. If someone tells you that the car you're operating could kills someone, you STFU and learn how to drive. Save the silliness for a more appropriate time.

I would have appreciated the movie a lot more if Poppy could have shown that she understood that concept. But her rudeness and lack of respect for others really turned me off. (Like you already couldn't tell).

So, I bet you're going to run right out and rent "Happy Go Lucky," right??!


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