Happy, Texas (1999)

The movie seems strangely unfocused, with the apparent central concept of their masquerade as gay quickly downplayed and Zahn's assimilation of the pageant-master role confined to a few montages - when he suddenly becomes a dedicated, inspirational achiever, it's a bit jarring. Instead, the film meanders through pretty conventional strands about Northam finding himself by serving as Walker's "gay" confidante (admittedly a winning plot strand), planning a bank heist, and other snippets of nothing in particular. There's a slapdash quality to the casting, with Northam ineffective as the solid centre and Zahn getting by on a weird collection of mannerisms rather than a coherent character - Macy is affecting in his role, but the film is a bit fuzzy about the details of his personal self-discovery. Even the closing pageant is barely exploited for comic value. The movie might be deliberately going against the grain of standard plotting, but it doesn't really seem so - it's a not particularly interesting mix of obvious set-ups and plot gambits and discursive if not arbitrary execution.

Fmovies: A great surprise, I didn't hear much about this movie but it was recommended by a friend. Well worth it. The acting is fantastic, and just know it's an inde with a very minimal budget makes it that much better. I haven't laughed this much in a long time !

Whether you're a good guy or a bad guy, in Happy, Texas you've got heart. Though the plot gets wacky, the "just plain folk" element keeps the craziness in check. It's really refreshing to finally see a film with gay characters that aren't in drag or snapping their fingers. It IS possible to have a funny gay character without being flamboyant. Sure, there is a lesson to be learned as in most films, but we care about these characters as they get deeper and deeper into trouble. I had a big smile on my face after watching this film, and it stays with you a while. How many other films give you a gift like that?

Happy, Texas fmovies. This film is about 2 straight escaped prisoners having to pose as 2 gay beauty pageant organisers to conceal their identities.

This film started a bit slow, but soon afterward it became very funny. Steve Zahn did very well in his role, and he was very convincing as a rough bandit. His solo performance on doing funny movements and pulling silly faces was fun to watch.

I also enjoyed the subplot about the sheriff (William H Macy) and David (Jeremy Northam) a lot. Wiliam H Macy gave a fine performance especially in the scene where they went hunting for hares, and in the scene where David refused him to enter the room when they were preparing for the performance. I could relate to sheriff's character so much that I felt his pain. My heart ached when I saw the sheriff crying on the hill.

I do recommend this film, it is warm and funny!

Happy, Texas is one of these films that you know from the beginning will end well, where everything work out, eventually, and nobody gets killed.

But it sure ain't all sweet, as foul language and sex is comic parts of the story, as are two supposedly gay men (they have stolen a camper belonging to two gay mane, so they, two escaped convicts, have to impersonate these guys for a while), a gay sheriff and so on.

The acting is nigh perfect, the story ludicrous, and it is all a great saga, but very modern at that. When Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr teaches the small girls how to dance on scene is one of the funniest scenes I've seen for a long time, and in all it outshines similar films by quite some distance!

If only Stuart Little had some of this energy and love of life, sigh!

8/10

HAPPY, TEXAS tells us the story of two escaped inmates, Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. (Steve Zahn) and Harry Sawyer (Jeremy Northam). They arrive in a town called Happy in Texas and proceed to steal the RV of a young gay couple, and are later forced to assume their identities as beauty pageant experts. Wayne becomes known as David, and Harry becomes known as Steven. "Steven" works on trying to avoid his feelings for the banker Joe (Ally Walker) and "pity-dating" the town sheriff Chappy (William H. Macy) while planning to rob the city bank, while "David" works on trying to teach a group of young girls to successfully win a beauty pageant.

I expected this to be a pretty dumb film, but I was surprised in that it wasn't. It was silly, of course, but not dumb. The plotline is ridiculous in theory but is carried out quite well. In fact, I found this movie to be rather sweet and charming, and very funny in parts. Not hysterical, but entertaining.

The thing I was most surprised about while viewing HAPPY, TEXAS was how good the acting was in parts. Every actor was good in both their comedic and dramatic moments. Steve Zahn was hilarious as Wayne, while Jeremy Northam was good in a mostly dramatic role. William H. Macy was excellent as he always is, as was Ally Walker.

All in all, HAPPY, TEXAS is a pretty average comedy. There are some good humorous moments, but they come somewhat few and far between. The pacing is a little too slow and it gets a little boring at times, but it's a cute and fairly original movie. Better than most of its kind and pretty entertaining. 7/10.