Sally Hawkins is in luck

There are some crabby people out there who think Poppy, the perpetually sunny grade-school teacher in "Happy-Go-Lucky," is grating and annoying and naive.

Cynics!

We'd normally count ourselves among that group. Jaded. Hard to please, quick to criticize, especially when it comes to The Entertainments.

But being longtime Mike Leigh fans, we vowed to give this low-budget indie dramedy an unbiased viewing, putting aside the snipes we'd already heard about Sally Hawkins' character (corny jokes, persistent giggle, kind to a dangerous fault). Glad we did, because we fell in love with this little charmer of a movie and Hawkins in it. (Eddie Marsan's obsessive-compulsive, bile-spewing driving instructor is also not to be missed.)

To all the haters: Just because Poppy's a slightly goofy eternal optimist doesn't mean she's a dim bulb. (Yes, she registered that dig from her pregnant suburbanite sister about "settling down." She just smiled through it. Girl after our own heart. And the late-night chat with the deranged homeless guy? It turned out OK).

Hawkins, the 32-year-old Londoner who's likely to walk away with a Golden Globe on Sunday and is one of our five best actress Oscar picks, said she still feels like she doesn't belong in such company and she thinks she and her character are enjoying parallel bouts of luck. She's not even sure she's a bona fide member of the Mike Leigh Film Alum Club, even though she's now done three pictures with the legendary indie director ("All or Nothing," "Vera Drake").

She took a few minutes between the hubbub of Thursday night's "Critics' Choice Awards," where she was a presenter, and the Globes, where's she's nominated for best actress in a comedy/musical, to chat with Gold Rush about lessons learned from Poppy, feeling like a newbie and working without an entourage.

GR: How's the award campaign trail treating you?

SH: It's madly exciting! It's insane. Just magical, like a dream world. I feel like any minute someone's going to tap me on the shoulder and say, 'Can you go now?' It'll all dissolve away come midnight.

GR: Did you find Poppy to be over-the-top?

SH: Yes, she's positive and radiates this energy, but it's obvious that she's had hard times, too. She just feels like there's no point in focusing on the negative. She just gets on with it. It's a choice she's made, and it's a brave one because she's exposed. She's all out there. It would be a lot easier to be cynical. She's incredibly grounded.

GR: Isn't it interesting that a kind-hearted character spurs so much debate?

SH:  This character knows that not everybody will like her. But she knows who she is. She doesn't judge herself or other people. It's funny that people watching are so aware of her kindness and that's what they pick out. The cynics who find her grating -- it probably says more about them than it does about her.

GR: You're now a member of the Mike Leigh Posse?

SH: No, I don't feel like I'm in that gang yet. I feel like I'd better do something really good next time -- I still have to prove myself!

GR: Do you have 'people' guiding you through the awards morass?

SH: I have great people helping me, but I don't have a stylist or a personal publicist or anything like that. It's easy to get hysterical about the tiniest things, but I keep remembering that it's just a party. A global party! One minute I say, 'Hey, it's cool,' and the next I'm an emotional wreck!