Life Is Sweet is another oddball film by English writer and director Mike Leigh (High Hopes). Here he explores the personal and economic lives of a lower-middle-class family. Mother (Alison Steadman) holds down two jobs while father (Jim Broadbent) tries to get a snack-trailer business going before an accident puts him on crutches. One of their twin 21-year-old daughters works as a plumber (Claire Skinner) while the other (Jane Horrocks), a bulimic, tries to trash the relentless optimism of the other family members. While Leigh's outrageous comedy may not be everyone's cup of tea, he again scores some valid points on what it takes to be a soul-survivor in contemporary England's hard times.