Happy, Texas (1999)

Because first you've got some memorable actors in >> Steve Zahn ("Joy Ride," "Hamlet"), >> Illeana Douglas, (Action, "Next Best Thing"), and >> Ally Walker (Tell Me You Love Me, My Wonderful Life), and in addition to that trait, the extra polish of>> Jeremy Northram (The Tudors, "Payback," "An Ideal Husband"), >> William H. Macy ("Fargo," "Thank You for Smoking"), and>> Ron Perlman ("Hellboy," "City of Lost Children"). Like "Old School," this is a movie for adults and older teens to enjoy, but unlike that movie, this one suits couples, too. You won't get the belly laughs of "Old School," but you'll look forward to seeing this little pleaser for the same reason people enjoy remakes of Shakespeare's comedies (John Boorman's "Where the Heart Is") or Jane Austin (Amy Heckler's "Clueless"): it's not only fun seeing updates on those confused identities, dawning insights, and unfamiliar settings, but it's fun too appreciating what different actors make of these. Plus these guys are always good, and Steve Zahn is inspired crazy.Northram and Zahn are odd-couple convicts on the run and con men on the make. Zahn, all crank and id, seems to have the harder task pretending to be a gay pageant director enduring the horror of all those sweet little girls, but it's soon clearly a draw as his pretend boyfriend, Northram, smart and smooth, fends off suspicions and a gay suitor. Both men are also suffering from scam-induced blue balls from the off-limits affections of what would otherwise be their love interests. The attraction of this movie for me is not only these amusing classic tensions, but the original way it resolves these. There's something touching in the determination of Zahn's character to work through the situation that's not like the poignancy of Macy's character or the sensitivity Northram's exhibits. But none of these guys is a wuss either, all the actors have attractive but distinctly different personalities, anyone of which can make you smile. If you do, check out all of the movies above and then kick it up a notch by seeing "Rosecranz and Guildenstern are Dead" together with Mel Gibson's "Hamlet," or Kenneth Branagh's, or his "Henry V" or him with Emma Thompson in "Much Ado about Nothing" or her in "Sense and Sensibility" or "Gweneth Paltrow in "Emma" or "Shakespeare in Love."

take 2 complete unknowns and cast them as convicts on the run from the police, one is a car thief, one is a fraudster. Take Ron Perlman (City Of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection) playing a US Marshall chasing them and the third convict on the run who is a murderer.then take William Macy playing a small town sheriff who turns out to be a closet homosexual.the 2 lesser criminals steal a camper van that belongs to 2 gay pageant organizers who they are mistaken for and the "jokes" start and promptly finish there.William Macy plays the small town cop very well, trying to hide his homosexuality from the bigots. It's basically a story of mistaken identity, people hiding their true selves and people hiding being facades.The outcome of the local kids winning the show is pretty predictable. That they don't rob the bank, likewise predictable.the film is just a bit of a harmless fun, it fills the time.

Happy, Texas follows your standard deception comedies. Harmless deviants who assume a false identity (or some kind of false characteristic) lead on a couple of nice town residents, inadvertently bring some joy to the town solving whatever problem they have, and meanwhile, not going through with the scheme they had originally attended before they won the trust of the town, only to be exposed anyway and things ending up with a happy resolution for all. Movies like these, too, are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. Similar instances that I can think of are: 'The Experts,' 'She's All That,' '10 Things I Hate About You,' and so forth. They need not be romantic comedies, but they usually are. And Happy, Texas is just one more forgettable version to top the list.Here, three guys are suddenly prison fugitives after the van they're riding in overturns. One goes his own way while the other two stumble upon a small Texas town, and steal the motorhome of two gay men who are notorious for their work in preparing young girls for pageants. So the two guys pose as the gay pageant duo and help out the town's pageant woe's while plotting to rob the local bank. Of course, they gain the trust of the town and both fall in love with two local women and meanwhile help out the Sheriff figure out his sexual identity. And then the first guy returns and threatens to blow their cover, especially because he wants a piece of the bank action, too.At least Steven Zahn was a little funnier here in his ritual performance as the dimwitted spaz.

Two small time criminals (Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn) escape a chain gang highway clean up crew and steal an RV, which promptly breaks down. When they are found by a small town sheriff (William H. Macy) they fear the worst, until they realize the officer, and the town, have mistaken them for the vehicle's owners; a couple (in more ways than business) of beauty pageant coordinators they have hired to turn their young ladies into the next "Little Miss Fresh Squeezed Pre-Teen." With an eye on the yearly harvest money about to hit the local bank, the escapees turn flamboyant pros to pull a flaming con.This is an adorable, fantastic, off the wall comedy with a fruity twist to the mistaken identity theme. A phenomenal script with excellent dialogue. An absolutely outstanding cast (keep an eye out for Ron Perlman!). Zahn is insane in the best possible way. Northam is subtly superb. Macy is simply brilliant. Looking to laugh to the beat of a different drummer? Visit "Happy, Texas."Favorite Line(s): "State prisons are leakin' like a macramé diaphragm." "Give me the meanest steak ya got rare, and I mean rare, just dehorn it, wipe its butt and send it in."Worth a buy.