Baltimore Sun by Michael Sragow

British director Mike Leigh has made the first great comedy for our new depression.

Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert

This is Mike Leigh's funniest film since "Life Is Sweet" (1991). Of course he hasn't ever made a completely funny film, and Happy-Go-Lucky has scenes that are not funny, not at all.

Washington Post by Ann Hornaday

Won't break your heart -- it will make it soar.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey

As refreshing as it is to find a movie that leaves you smiling, it's something much rarer to discover a film that makes you think about what a commitment to happiness really means.

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

The personal triumphs in Happy-Go-Lucky may be small-scale but its embrace is all-encompassing. It's a wonderfully humane movie.

Salon by Stephanie Zacharek

Leigh and his actors work mysterious magic in Happy-Go-Lucky. This is a movie about hitting the groove of everyday life and, nearly miraculously, getting music out of it.

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

I thought "Topsy-Turvy" was perfection, a spirited evocation of the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, plus a blithely definitive depiction of the artistic process. Happy-Go-Lucky is perfection too, assuming you go along with its leisurely pace, which I did quite happily.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

The London universe Leigh creates (employing his trademark improv techniques to unite his ensemble, many of whom make their film debuts) isn't so much a reality as a hope, and an invitation to find joy and grace in everyday moments.

Chicago Reader by J.R. Jones

Leigh pushes the story in a more interesting direction, asking whether people find happiness or simply will it on themselves.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Mr. Leigh has never been an artist for whom happy (word or idea) has been an easy fit. Life is sweet, as the title of another of his films puts it with a heart-swelling yes, but it’s also an eternal fight against doom and gloom, the soul-crushing no.

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

No list of the year's best performances should be made without her (Sally Hawkins).

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

Typically, Leigh withholds his own judgment as to whether Hawkins is a delight or a terror. But he does create a noticeable tension between the audience's expectations and the way the story plays out.

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

As is always the case with Leigh's protagonists, Poppy does not fit into a schematic log line, she simply is. She exists with an intensity that few other filmmakers' characters can manage because of the singular way Leigh creates his people.

NPR by Bob Mondello

So relentlessly upbeat that it won't take long before you're wondering just how the director plans to wipe the smile off her face.

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

While any or all of the events related during the course of the film might seem to form the backbone of an unendurably boring motion picture, everything comes alive because of Poppy.

Village Voice by J. Hoberman

At the very least, the spectacle of Poppy's devotion and desire, not to mention her all-around sunny disposish, left this viewer feeling unaccountably happy--at least for the moment.

The New Yorker by David Denby

The movie is not an argument for chaos; it's an argument for making one's way through life with a relaxed will and an open heart.

Variety

Mike Leigh's mellowest work yet, and his most purely entertaining.

The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett

As surprising as it is delicious with an indelible performance by new star Sally Hawkins.