Once again, William Macy proved that he has incredible talent, and that does not include the wonderful performances of the other actors. The writing was outstanding. This was a fresh and creative plot. This is the type of movie I thoroughly enjoy. The children in the film also did a fine job. It has a lot of twists and turns which add greatly to the movie. Happy, Texas is a rather fast-paced comedy which holds your attention. Even though as film-making goes, this was a low-budget production, that did not in any way detract from the professionalism and filming. All of the actors truly excelled. I highly recommend this film.

Because first you've got some memorable actors in >> Steve Zahn ("Joy Ride," "Hamlet"), >> Illeana Douglas, (Action, "Next Best Thing"), and >> Ally Walker (Tell Me You Love Me, My Wonderful Life), and in addition to that trait, the extra polish of>> Jeremy Northram (The Tudors, "Payback," "An Ideal Husband"), >> William H. Macy ("Fargo," "Thank You for Smoking"), and>> Ron Perlman ("Hellboy," "City of Lost Children"). Like "Old School," this is a movie for adults and older teens to enjoy, but unlike that movie, this one suits couples, too. You won't get the belly laughs of "Old School," but you'll look forward to seeing this little pleaser for the same reason people enjoy remakes of Shakespeare's comedies (John Boorman's "Where the Heart Is") or Jane Austin (Amy Heckler's "Clueless"): it's not only fun seeing updates on those confused identities, dawning insights, and unfamiliar settings, but it's fun too appreciating what different actors make of these. Plus these guys are always good, and Steve Zahn is inspired crazy.Northram and Zahn are odd-couple convicts on the run and con men on the make. Zahn, all crank and id, seems to have the harder task pretending to be a gay pageant director enduring the horror of all those sweet little girls, but it's soon clearly a draw as his pretend boyfriend, Northram, smart and smooth, fends off suspicions and a gay suitor. Both men are also suffering from scam-induced blue balls from the off-limits affections of what would otherwise be their love interests. The attraction of this movie for me is not only these amusing classic tensions, but the original way it resolves these. There's something touching in the determination of Zahn's character to work through the situation that's not like the poignancy of Macy's character or the sensitivity Northram's exhibits. But none of these guys is a wuss either, all the actors have attractive but distinctly different personalities, anyone of which can make you smile. If you do, check out all of the movies above and then kick it up a notch by seeing "Rosecranz and Guildenstern are Dead" together with Mel Gibson's "Hamlet," or Kenneth Branagh's, or his "Henry V" or him with Emma Thompson in "Much Ado about Nothing" or her in "Sense and Sensibility" or "Gweneth Paltrow in "Emma" or "Shakespeare in Love."

take 2 complete unknowns and cast them as convicts on the run from the police, one is a car thief, one is a fraudster. Take Ron Perlman (City Of Lost Children, Alien Resurrection) playing a US Marshall chasing them and the third convict on the run who is a murderer.then take William Macy playing a small town sheriff who turns out to be a closet homosexual.the 2 lesser criminals steal a camper van that belongs to 2 gay pageant organizers who they are mistaken for and the "jokes" start and promptly finish there.William Macy plays the small town cop very well, trying to hide his homosexuality from the bigots. It's basically a story of mistaken identity, people hiding their true selves and people hiding being facades.The outcome of the local kids winning the show is pretty predictable. That they don't rob the bank, likewise predictable.the film is just a bit of a harmless fun, it fills the time.

Good premise, forced Zahn comedy, forced love stories, GREAT MACY as always. When I watched the 2nd time (yesteday), I found it even harder to get through. The Director/Writer special feature on the DVD was enlightening and will encourage any wannabee filmmaker.The hard part to believe is that in 1999 this film made it to Sundance and was picked up by Miramax. This just needed a better script and less forced plot to be an interesting character film. Seems like everyone wants to make a quirky FARGO but ends up with broad, contrived, unfunny small-town characters.I am currently in pre-production on my first feature film called "PIGS" and I base my own comedy on 2 things: real situations, fresh characters who are complex to the point that their inadequacies prompt conflict with other characters. Plus I've got a killer Amish sub-plot that is a twisted WITNESS tale. (Am I talking about my own film too much? It's only because I have to fill these 10 stupid lines and I've said everything about Happy.)