Happy Texas (1999)

Directed by: Mark Illsley | 98 minutes | comedy, romance, crime | Actors: Steve Zahn, Jeremy Northam, William H. Macy, Ally Walker, Illeana Douglas, MC Gainey, Ron Perlman, Mo Gaffney, Paul Dooley, Jillian Berard, Scarlett Pomers, Melissa Arnold, Cassie Silva, Tiffany Takara, Tim Bagley, Michael Hitchcock, Ed Stone, Rance Howard, Derek Montgomery, Kiva Lawrence, Carley Fink, David Shackelford, Kim Story

A comedy about two escaped prisoners who are mistaken by the population of a rural community for a gay couple who organize beauty pageants, which smacks of blandness. Especially if the two crooks in question don’t have to take care of beautiful ladies in tight dresses – as they had hoped – but a group of whining elementary school girls. Did we mention that the real name of one of the criminals Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. is? And that the other has a loving village sheriff after him? And has to play along because he doesn’t want to be fooled – after all, his alter ego is attracted to men? Right, faint. And yet ‘Happy, Texas’ is more fun than you might expect.

It helps that ‘Happy, Texas’ boasts a talented cast, with Steve Zahn and Jeremy Northam as escaped crooks, William H. Macy as the latent gay sheriff, Ally Walker as the headmistress of the local bank and Illeana Douglas as the timid elementary school teacher who the word ‘gay’ can hardly be spoken. What unfolds is a comedy that is sometimes predictable and sometimes surprising, firing at the viewer as many successful as flopped jokes, but always with its heart in the right place.

Racial comedian Zahn provides many golden moments as mourner Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr., who, as a car cracker with a bicycle handlebar mustache, is not the most obvious person to teach young girls grace. Still, he manages to do this quite well, albeit with some foul language here and there (“Shut yer yappers!!!”) and tells a young bully that he will kill him in his sleep—with a chainsaw—if he gets into the future will not behave better. Macy also shines as a rural sheriff who follows his heart and breaks when he sets his sights on the wrong person.

‘Happy, Texas’ isn’t an intellectual high-flyer, but the film is so well-intentioned, warm and fun that you can’t get mad at it. The indie production did well at the Sundance Film Festival and it was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Best Picture by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Meanwhile, the comedy has a modest cult status. Conclusion: ‘Happy, Texas’ may not be the most touristic destination, but for an hour and a half it is a good place to be. Also pay attention to the credits, in which the residents of Happy, Texas are given a big thank you – although the film was not shot in Texas at all.