Happy, Texas MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2 1/2

Happy, Texas is the small town where escaped convicts Harry Sawyer (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr. (Steve Zahn) end up in their run from the law. Unfortunately, they steal an RV on the way that belongs to a couple of gay men hired to put on a beauty pageant there in Happy. So when they arrive, the people of Happy are expecting them. The escapees decide that Happy is a good place to lay low until the search effort dies down, so they play their parts as gay men and wait it out for the next couple of weeks. They are nervous about Sheriff Chappy Dent (William H. Macy), since they suspect that hes watching them more closely than he should. And, although hes supposed to be gay, Harry falls in love with the town banker Josephine McLintock (Ally Walker). Filled with laughs, HAPPY, TEXAS should be a crowd pleaser. The funniest material comes from Macys stoic role as town sheriff.

While its premise involves two escaped convicts posing as gay men, the film does not try to make any kind of statements for or against homosexuality. It appears to be using the wacky turn of events as a vehicle for a funny movie. The escaped convict angle is played off of just as much as the gay angle in the film. Therefore, there is a lot of funny material based on an escaped convict trying to teach little girls how to perform at a beauty pageant. One implied sex scene occurs between a man and woman off camera, but noises are heard. Foul language is also present with 12 obscenities and 11 regular profanities. So while the homosexual content is present simply for laughs, the sex off camera and the foul language in HAPPY, TEXAS will make many viewers very unhappy indeed.

Preview Reviewer: John Adair
Distributor: Miramax Films, 375 Greewich, NY, NY 10013