Vacuous. They forgot to add the word ‘vacuous’ to the title. This British comedy starring Sally Hawkins as Poppy, an irrepressibly air-headed elementary school teacher who pushes optimism to the absolute limit, redefines the terms ‘empty’ and ‘annoying.’

Funny, everyone in the film seems to find her irresistibly charming, unless they are obviously emotionally disturbed and depressed. Her buoyant attitude is hammered home by a garish wardrobe and her favorite after school pastime; jumping on a trampoline, always high and bouncing back. She can leave no silence undisturbed by a banality, no human hanging without a superficial affirmation.

Everything is a giggle as she skips through life always insisting that the glass is half full. After the first ten minutes, it’s enough already! You begin wondering if a plot will ever develop, and feel robbed when, sadly, it never does. Writer/director Mike Leigh (Vera Drake, Secrets & Lies), has a habit of creating the characters in improv sessions with the actors before the cameras roll, and it really seems to work for some: there is Oscar Buzz for Hawkins, who won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Breakthrough Actress Of The Year at the Hollywood Film Festival. But I failed to be endeared by the babbling of a 32-year-old schoolteacher who gets her bike stolen and then takes driving lessons. That’s pretty much it, as far as the plot goes. Oh, there are relationship issues with single men, the driving instructor, friends, colleagues, students, family and a long-suffering roommate. But for the most part, I would have been content if Poppy only would have learned that sometimes it’s best to just shut up.

Rated R.    

-- Lisa Johnson Mandell