October 01, 1999
Web posted at: 1:27 p.m. EDT (1727 GMT)

By Reviewer Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- "Happy, Texas" is an off-center, goofy comedy starring independent-film veterans William H. Macy and Illeana Douglas. The film was entered in this year's Sundance Film Festival, one of the world's biggest annual cinema meat markets. It was grabbed for distribution by Miramax Films during the first days of the fest.

The basic premise of "Happy, Texas" has two convicts, Harry Sawyer (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. (Steve Zahn), escaping from a Texas chain gang. They steal an RV with the intent of getting the hell out of the Lone Star State.

What they don't count on is the fact that the RV belongs to a gay couple on the way to Happy, Texas, to help four preteen girls prepare for the Little Miss Squeezed Pageant. This information comes to their attention after the stolen RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Happy's lone sheriff, Chappy (Macy), rescues them and proceeds to haul them to the welcoming arms of the citizens of Happy.

Apparently many Texans take their beauty pageants seriously and the people of Happy are getting desperate. The town has been unable to qualify anyone for the coveted Squeezed Pageant for the past quarter-century. So they decide to go professional and hire some experts. What they don't know is that their "pros" are really these cons, Harry and Wayne.

More quickly than you can click your heels together and say, "There's no place like home," the two convicts transform themselves into David and Steven, pageant professionals and a loving gay couple.

It appears to be the perfect cover for the boys until the heat blows over. And the little bank in town, owned by a beautiful woman named Josephine (Ally Walker), is ripe for robbing.

Meanwhile, over at the local schoolhouse, Ms. Schaefer (Douglas) is frantically waiting for the pageant boys to work their magic on her four future beauty queens. Wayne gets conned into becoming their coach while Harry cases the bank -- and its owner.

Harry, while posing as the gay Steven, falls in love with Josephine. Zahn's character pretending to be David gets the hots for Ms. Schaefer. And then Chappy, a closeted gay man, starts pining for Harry-as-Steven.

Confusion reigns as pageant-qualifying and bank-robbing day approaches. Papier-mâché, sequins and hairpins fly as sexual tensions build.

Mark Illsley makes a decent directorial debut with "Happy, Texas." He co-wrote the script with Ed Stone and Phil Reeves.

Writer Stone says there really is a town called Happy in Texas. He says he worked as disc jockey "just down the road," and he says the place was obsessed with pageants. Together Stone, Illsley and Reeves have devised an interesting concept that works pretty well for the most part.

The film lacks a strong finale. But Macy is superb as the confused everyman, albeit a lovelorn gay everyman. The English-born Northam (this year's "The Ideal Husband" and "Emma," 1996) gets a chance to drop his native dialect and display his crooked grin.

Zahn is over the top as a good old boy who really gets caught up in "his girls" winning the contest. In fact, Zahn won a special jury prize at Sundance for his work. Walking in high heels while wearing a tiara will do it every time.

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Douglas, granddaughter of actor Melvyn Douglas and an independent film regular, delivers a well-tuned performance. Walker proves that leaving her hit NBC TV show "The Profiler" to pursue feature films was the right decision.

Total acceptance for a gay couple in a small Texas town may be a reality stretch. But the film's treatment of the issue -- making it a non-issue -- is refreshing.

Lovable characters, strong comedic performances and a clever premise makes "Happy, Texas" a destination worth considering.

"Happy, Texas" opens in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday with more openings later in the month. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 99 minutes.