Themes: Bank Robbery, Mistaken Identities, Fish Out of Water
Main Cast: Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy, Ally Walker, Illeana Douglas
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
Plot
Happy, Texas is a fish-out-of-water comedy about two con men who escape from prison, then pose as gay lovers to hide out in a small Texas town. Mistaken for consultants to the Little Miss Fresh Squeezed Beauty Pageant, Harry (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne (Steve Zahn) go along with the ruse so they can stake out the local bank, owned by Josephine "Joe" McClintock (Ally Walker). The story kicks into high gear as Harry starts falling in love with Joe but cannot let on about his feelings. Also complicating matters is that gay Sheriff Dent (William H. Macy) has the hots for Harry, and Harry must pretend he's interested to keep the cops off his back. Meanwhile, Wayne is getting in touch with his feminine side as he tries his best to teach dance steps and flaming baton twirling to the little girls; he's also lusting after the girls' teacher, Ms. Schaefer (Ileana Douglas). Everything leads up to the big beauty pageant, where the cops are finally on Harry and Wayne's tail. First-time director Mark Illsley received wide media attention for this commercial piece, which sold to Miramax after a very public and intense bidding war. Steve Zahn's performance won him a special acting award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, where the film premiered in dramatic competition . ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
Review
Shakespeare may have perfected the mistaken-identity plot, but even the Bard never contemplated the hysterical ripple that infests this honestly funny and seemingly fresh mistaken-sex adventure. First-time director Mark Illsley turns in a bright, lighthearted romantic comedy that doesn't rely on cheap laughs -- at least not too many, given that rubber-faced Steve Zahn is at his brain-dead finest . There's also enough of a dark turn in the plot when the "real" bad guy arrives to provide dramatic impetus for the final third, assuring the film never runs out of steam. Jeremy Northam, an Englishman doing a credible American accent, makes a fine, understated lead and shares some genuinely touching scenes with the always wonderful William H. Macy as the closeted sheriff who is so smitten with tall, dark stranger Northam that he asks him to go dancing. Ileana Douglas and Zahn make another compatible couple, but watch out for charming Ally Walker, who holds her own as Northam's "straight" love interest; why in the world she doesn't get more work in Hollywood is anybody's guess. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Joe Louis Garcia - Casting, Fernando Altschul - First Assistant Director, George Bamber - First Assistant Director, Mark Illsley - Director, Norman Buckley - Editor, Peter Harris - Composer (Music Score), Maurin Scarlata - Production Designer, Bruce Douglas Johnson - Cinematographer, Mark Illsley - Producer, Ed White - Sound/Sound Designer, Mark Illsley - Screenwriter, Phil Reeves - Screenwriter, Ed Stone - Screenwriter
Three prisoners escape from a chain gang, and two of them, Wayne and Harry (Zahn and Northam) run away to Happy, Texas, where they pose as the gay organizers of a beauty pageant. They put on a show with the small girls of the town while hiding from the law and waiting for the opportunity to rob the local bank.
Their scheme is complicated by the fact that the local sheriff (Macy) is gay, and, believing that Wayne and Harry are also gay, he is attracted to Harry.
