British auteur Mike Leigh is back with his most mellow work yet--and his most purely entertaining. The effervescent comedy Happy-Go-Lucky offers a lighthearted slice-of-life as seen through eyes of free-spirited North London nursery-school teacher Poppy (Sally Hawkins) in a storyline involving lessons of various sorts and humorous comparisons of teaching methods.

Poppy is an ever-smiling optimist who is happy with her life, and someone who tries to brighten the day of everyone she encounters with constant chatter and jokes. When her bike is stolen, Poppy decides to take driving lessons from the Axle School of Motoring (motto: “Good Driving is no Accident”) where she and tightly wound instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan) have something of a personality clash.

Thin, fine-boned Hawkins (Best Actress, Berlin Film Festival), so good in small parts in Vera Drake and All or Nothing, manages to make what initially appears to be a scatty, irritating character ultimately endearing. Marsan (also from Vera Drake) gets some of the film’s best dialogue, with long, paranoia-filled rants about “the system.” His use of mnemonics to cue proper driving behaviour doesn’t rub off on Poppy, but “ENRAHA” will surely be one of film’s most quoted lines.