4/10
I tried. I really did. I watched this film all the way through, pausing only to take a breath of real life, then bravely re-immersing myself in the world according to Mike Leigh. And so, in the spirit of Poppy's positive thinking, I shall look for things that I liked about the film. First of all, credit to Sally Hawkins for tackling and partially making a success of the almost impossible role of Poppy, possibly one of the most irritating people in modern cinema. Sorry, staying positive. When Poppy is being sensible and caring, she seems like a decent enough human being, and even likeable.
Next, top marks to Eddie Marsan as the driving instructor with anger management issues. Though I would say that initially, I think he is justified in finding Poppy's quirky and mock ironic humour extremely tiresome. Poppy's best friend is also good. There, is that enough positivity?
Because there is also a lot that really got up my nose. The music, which as a friend pointed out, sounds like something from an episode of Agatha Christie on the TV; some of the scenes of pointless chatter, unconvincingly written and performed and leading precisely nowhere; the awkward and inept love affair which Poppy has with the nice social worker; the badly done rerun of Abigail's Party which Poppy and her two sisters have. And so on and on.
I am forever being told how great Mike Leigh is, and I am constantly finding that the evidence of my own eyes would suggest that he's not. Thinking hard about it during the course of this film, which, like Vera Drake, is about a woman who is Very Very Good, I realised that the reason that Poppy is so implausible (and annoying) is that she behaves like a child with her sisters, friends, boyfriend, driving instructor (until he flips), and only behaves like a grown up around needy and damaged people like a boy at the school where she teaches, a homeless man, and Scott the driving instructor after he flips. Then she calms down, listens instead of prattling, and looks like an ordinary person, instead of a hyperactive twit.
Now I know how Scott felt.
