TRESSA'S REVIEW OF 'HAPPY TEXAS'

Happy, Texas (1999)

Never straight; gaily forward.

Director: Mark Illsley.

Starring: Jillian Berard (Madison), Paul Dooley (The Judge), Illeana Douglas (Doreen Schaefer), Mo Gaffney (Mrs. Bromley), M.C. Gainy (Robert Maslow), William H. Macy (Sheriff Chappy Dent), Jeremy Northam (Harry Sawyer), Ron Perlman (Marshall Nalhober), Ally Walker (Josephine McClintock), Steve Zahn (Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr).

Ron Perlman as
Marshall Nalhober

Two small time criminals escape a chain gang highway clean up crew and steal an RV, which promptly breaks down. When they are found by a small town sheriff they fear the worst, until they realize the officer, and the town, have mistaken them for the vehicle's owners; a couple (in more ways than business) of beauty pageant coordinators they have hired to turn their young ladies into the next "Little Miss Fresh Squeezed Pre-Teen." With an eye on the yearly harvest money about to hit the local bank, the escapees turn flamboyant pros to pull a flaming con.

This is an adorable, fantastic, off the wall comedy with a fruity twist to the mistaken identity theme. A phenomenal script with excellent dialogue. An absolutely outstanding cast. Zahn is insane in the best possible way. Northam is subtley superb. Macy is simply brilliant. Looking to laugh to the beat of a different drummer? Visit "Happy, Texas."

Ron Perlman has the role of a commanding Texas Marshall. Although he does not have a plethora of screen time, he is able to give his officer a sweet toughness and he has some lovely interaction with William H. Macy.

Favorite Line(s): "State prisons are leakin' like a macrame diaphragm."

"Give me the meanest steak ya got rare, and I mean rare, just dehorn it, wipe its butt and send it in."

Availability: VHS and DVD. Suggest: Amazon.com. I have used Amazon for years, for both new and used items, and have had no problems. Please remember to check that the VHS/DVD is compatible with your region/country.

Worth a buy.

The DVD has a wonderful audio commentary with director Mark Illsley and writer Ed Stone, who also played Ron Perlman's "sidekick", and this is what they had to say about working with him:

ES = "The great thing about doing scenes with Ron Perlman is that no one even notices you're in the room. Actually, when Ron's on screen, everyone in the scene becomes celophane; you just look through them so you can see Ron."

(First rooftop scene.)
MI = "Ron was great."

ES = "He's truly bigger than life."

MI = "Yes, and he's a great supporter of independent movies and he was very enthusiastic when he was on the set."

ES = "We had a big discussion about this moment right here that's about to happen." (Ron Perlman and William H. Macy's first scene together.) "Whether we should tip it off or not. In our first idea, they should just have the exchange and then Ron Perlman should walk away and there shouldn't be any kind of hint or foreshadowing about what was going to happen. Ron just played it so slick that we had to keep it."

By Tressa Lee Breen.