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Actors: Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn, Ally Walker, Ileana Douglas, William H. Macy
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Happy, Texas |
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Harry Sawyer is in jail for bank robbery and forgery and Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr., aka Dave, is in for auto theft. While working on a highway litter control detail, they get into a fight with Bob, who's serving time for murder. For discipline, the three cons are sent back for solitary confinement, but the van carrying them overturns and the driver is knocked out. The cons escape with Bob going one way and Harry and Wayne going another. Wayne and Harry steal an RV owned by two gay men who are beauty pageant trainers. A local sheriff named Chappy comes across them when the RV dies and immediately takes them to be the beauty pageant trainers everyone is expecting back home in Happy, Texas.
Harry and Wayne find themselves getting a red carpet treatment from the town people, who are really excited and full of hope that their “expertise” will finally help the pageant girls' team win. Harry gets the bright notion to rob the town's bank, so he starts casing it and chatting up the banker, Josephine “Joe” McClintock, leaving the pageant training to Wayne Wayne. Faced with several expectant little girls and their eager-to-please lay instructor, Doreen Schaefer, Wayne Wayne nearly has a nervous breakdown until he starts playing pageant tapes he finds in the RV. Inspired, he uses the tapes to come up with routines for the girls, which turn out to be not bad, and finds an unexpected spark igniting between him and Doreen. Meanwhile, Harry and Joe sense an attraction to each other. These personal bonds naturally complicate things and the convicts have second thoughts about carrying out the robbery. Then the third escaped con, Bob, shows up, and he complicates things even more by wanting a piece of the action. When pageant day arrives, it's also the day of the planned bank robbery, and Harry and Wayne must either carry out the heist with Bob or give themselves up.
--Karen Law, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Happy, Texas |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kind of comedy
- bungling criminals
How much humor v. drama
- Lot of humor, but significant serious drama
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- criminal
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard wavey
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) long girliemon hair
Body type
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- criminal
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 20%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Texas
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting
- school
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- full of laughter
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
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TOP SCHOLAR:
 Karen Law
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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