Happy, Texas

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Happy, Texas ★★★ 1999 (PG-13)

Producer/director Mark Illsley's quirky little debut hearkens back to such classic Hollywood comedies as “Some Like It Hot.” Escaped prisoners Harry Sawyer (Northam) and Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. (Zahn) steal a camper and assume the identity of its owners in order to evade the law. The trouble is that the owners are a pair of gay men who organize kiddie beauty pageants. When they arrive in the town of Happy, Texas, the populace thinks that they're there to stage the Little Miss Fresh Squeezed contest and greet them with open arms. Wayne is forced to summon up fashion and choreography skills not commonplace in your average hardened criminal, while Harry hobnobs with the local gentry while plotting to knock over the town bank. Romantic complications involving a schoolmarm (Douglas), lady banker (Walker) and a sexually confused sheriff (Macy) arise, setting the stage for a happy (but unnecessarily tidy) ending. 104m/C VHS, DVD . Steve Zahn, Jeremy Northam, Ally Walker, Illeana Douglas, William H. Macy, M.C. Gainey, Ron Perlman, Michael Hitchcock, Paul Dooley; D: Mark Illsley; W: Phil Reeves, Ed Stone, Mark Illsley; C: Bruce Douglas Johnson; M: Peter Harris. Ind. Spirit ‘00: Support. Actor (Zahn).

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