Too kind-hearted to be totally convincing
There is obviously a good will behind Happy Go Lucky. The movie tries to show us handicapped people without any possibility to hide. It's always a bit disturbing to watch handicapped people in the street, you never really know how to look at them. The movie is interesting in the sense that you have to watch them during a long time, and slowly the disturbing feeling disappears. Then you also have nice performances from the cast. All the fans know that Kent Cheng is an excellent actor, and even if his character seems a little bit "too much" from time to time, he delivers here a solid performance. Wayne Lai isn't as well known, but he is a very solid supporting actor. That's confirmed here with a very difficult character, quite simply because of his physical handicap. Then you have Gillian Chung playing a blind girl, this character is less interesting, and we can give her some credits mainly because she looks very cute starring at nothing during most of the movie.
On the other hand, the directing and technical aspects are less convincing, even if Herman Yau's cinematography almost makes us forget that the movie was shot on DV. However, the directing still makes it look like a good TV serie more than like a real movie. Then the other problem is clearly the script, lacking development and original elements. The story is not bad, but it's predictable. It's a good thing to produce positive and encouraging movies during a bad period, but we are closer to the overdose of good feelings in this particular movie sadly.
The movie still deserves some credits for the nice performances of the male leads, and for its direct approach of handicapped people's problems. However, it will remain a minor movie in this year filmography, clearly lacking ambition in its intention.
