Happy, Texas – (1999) Three convicts escape from a prison van in Texas when it swerves to miss an armadillo in the road and lands in a ditch. Petty criminals Harry Sawyer (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr (Steve Zahn) pair off together, not wanting to be in the company of a dangerous killer, Bob Maslow. After they steal an RV, Sheriff Chappy Dent (William H. Macy) finds them outside the town of Happy, Texas.

Thinking they’ve been recaptured by the law, they’re surprised to discover instead that they’ve been mistaken for two gay, professional beauty-pageant consultants, Steven and David, and Happy is hosting a regional beauty pageant for little girls. The pair of jailbirds play their parts with a plan to rob the bank during the pageant. But romance intrudes: Chappy falls for Steven (Northam) who falls for the bank president, Josephine “Joe” McClintock (Ally Walker), while David (Zahn) gets involved with instructing the girls how to dance (and sewing their costumes) and with their teacher, Doreen Schaefer (Illeana Douglas). When Steven/Harry returns from his date with Chappy at a gay bar, David/Wayne asks: “Get any?” Steven replies, “Screw you.” David says, “That would be cheatin’ on the sheriff.” Cute and occasionally funny.

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Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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