Movies you may not have seen #4

[gwyn]

Continuing my happy movie and must post about something besides my awful life theme, I thought I'd go for a movie that was a huge hit at Sundance a few years ago, but that ended up being a critical and box office disappointment, for reasons I've never understood because I adored it: Happy, Texas. The movie is often used these days as a touch point for discussions about the distribution bidding wars and how the big hits at festivals don't pan out, and while it's not a perfect movie by any stretch, it's still a much better movie than critics gave it credit for being.

It's a comedy about two prisoners (Jeremy Northam and the ubiquitous Steve Zahn) who escape from a road gang and steal an RV belonging, they find out later, to two children's pageant coordinators who were on their way to Happy, Texas to beef up the skills of the town's little girls competing for the Little Miss Fresh-Squeezed title. Everyone in town assumes they're the (very odd) pageant boys, which allows Northam, who's a bank robber and con man, and Zahn, who's basically just a violent career criminal with few brain cells to rub together (with the sublime name of Wayne Wayne Jr.), to stay there a while and plan to rob the local bank. The problem is that Northam falls in love with the banker, played by Ally Walker from Profiler, under the guise of being her new gay best friend, and Zahn starts to really get into his role as pageant expert, while also falling for the previous pageant guide, played by the always great Illeana Douglas. Worse, the town sheriff, played note-perfectly by William H. Macy, falls in love with Northam's character, thinking of course that he's gay, and on the outs with his "partner."

While there's a lot of the usual stereotyping and the final action set piece goes on way too long, what I loved about the movie was that it got to the heart of what makes people fall in love with other people, what makes people want to stay in one place or be with one person, and how you can never predict what will touch your heart. Zahn is hilarious when he's struggling with the fact that he's really falling for the little girls he gets stuck with teaching; he has a monologue while using a sewing machine, as he rips into Northam for abandoning him, that almost made me pee my pants with laughter, because he gets so worked up about his girls, especially the one with the flaming baton who he's afraid will set herself on fire "like one of them Buddhist monks." And Northam is really touching to watch as a heartless con artist who slowly discovers his heart -- his scenes with Macy are especially wonderful. Everything with Macy's quietly gay and lonely sheriff is a great antidote to the stereotypes, so that by the end, all the stereotypes get kind of subverted. Ron Perlman has a great small role as a Texas Ranger whose admiration for Macy's "big-dicked" lawman turns into something else altogether by the end.

I think these days any comedy will get trounced by the critics, especially one like this that was a huge audience-pleaser at a festival like Sundance. But just because it's not perfect doesn't mean it's not also a) funny and b) well-done and c) features outstanding performances by some of the best indie film people in the business. And to me, those are pretty important to making a comedy successful -- when feochadn and I saw it in the theatre, it was a small crowd, but I remember the two of us, and the rest of the audience, laughing our asses off, and I think nothing could be higher praise for a movie. If for no other reason, it's worth watching for Zahn's sewing machine monologue, but I also think the sweet love stories, and the final little tender surprise with Macy's character (not to mention the scene where he drives around crying), make it definitely worth a rental.

Comments

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Sounds wonderful! Thanks for the rec.

[minotaurs.livejournal.com]

I agree - that's a favorite of mine as well. I love the quite comedy of it, especially Macy's sherrif, and Illeana Douglas is always fun.

[fishsanwitt]

I *really* loved this movie too :)

[kadymae.livejournal.com]

Ralph and I loved this movie for exactly the same reasons. And yes, the sewing maching monolog is the best.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Happy, Texas! Yay!

The movie is often used these days as a touch point for discussions about the ditribution bidding wars and how the big hits at festivals don't pan out

And yet? That was the same year The Blair Witch Project was a hit at Sundance and became one of the highest-grossing indies (sorry, I don't count mega-million-dollar Passion of the Christ) ever produced. So, I guess I don't really see that as a valid reason for ragging on a wonderful flick like Happy, Texas.

Six years later, I'm still baffled by the reception HT received outside Sundance. As you said, it's a funny, sweet, charming film, with fabulous performances, and I love it to pieces. I remember it didn't get distributed very widely around here, so maybe that was part of the problem. I'll just never understand the moviegoing public, or critics, for that matter. How craptastic movies like Dodgeball are huge hits while HT gets ignored... pfffftttt.

[sandy-s.livejournal.com]

Hee! I've driven through Happy, Texas...and my ex-boyfriend was a camp counselor there when I first met him. I remember thinking it was so funny to be sending letters to a town called Happy. ;o)

[mystic-savage.livejournal.com]

I saw this movie and liked it, but only mildly. I liked it more than Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and more than the American remake of same. A check on rottentomatoes.com reveals that 76% of the reviews were positive. But I think it deserves the gentle discontent of the other 24% too.

[true-enough.livejournal.com]

I love this movie! I remember one critic who seemed to admire Northam's deep American accent pointed out that he sounded like all three Baldwin brothers. It's an obeservation that still cracks me up because it's so true. This is also the movie that launched my undying love of Bill Macy into the stratosphere. Watching him dance an unwilling Northam around the floor ("I'm gonna spin ya.") of the areas only gay bar is funny, touching and revealing. Not an easy combination to pull off.

And yes, Zahn's sewing maching monologue is priceless.

[meko00.livejournal.com]

Oh! Yes! I haven't seen this for ages, but I really, really liked it for the reasons you mentioned. Must rent it again. Thanks for the reminder. :-)

[cranberryink.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is a fantastic movie. It cemented my love for Steve Zahn, which was already going fairly strong after seeing him in Out of Sight.

And the sewing machine! Hahaha, what a great scene.

[dettiot.livejournal.com]

OOo! I saw Happy, Texas a few years ago and definitely enjoyed it lots--nice to see I'm not the only one!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You know what they say -- no one ever went broke underestimating the American public. Sad, but true.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling the residents of Happy probably seriously hated the movie! But I like the idea of sending letters there... I wonder what their postcards are like!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't already loved Bill Macy to death, I think that driving around and crying scene would have made me fall for him big time. Especially when he sees that missing license plate, and both goes into cop mode, and still cries. Utterly perfect.