Sweet gay Texas

>> Farcical mistaken identities rule in Mark Illsley's Happy, Texas

by MATTHEW HAYS

The latest concept appearing on the big screen actually isn't such a bad one. Take a couple of goons on the lam from the law, have them mistaken for a couple of gay tourists in a small town, and have them maintain the impostorship to continue evading capture by police.

As played by principals Jeremy Northam and Steve Zahn, the premise is exceedingly funny, especially when they're placed in the microcosm of small town, southern America, Happy, Texas (yes, such a place actually exists). It's a farce of La Cage aux folles/Tootsie proportions, as the two rednecks must pretend to be grade-school pageant organizers in order to maintain their gay facade.

"We didn't set out to make a film about people who were gay or straight," says director Mark Illsley, who made an appearance at the World Film Fest with co-screenwriter and producer Ed Stone. "Instead, we wanted to blur lines along sexuality, while also creating a fish-out-of-water comedy."

The filmmakers, who are old friends, decided a few years ago that what they really wanted to do was stop struggling in deadend jobs in L.A. and actually make a movie. Cut to last January in Utah, where the two were receiving standing ovations at the legendary Sundance Film Fest for Happy.

While the film isn't perfect--the script gets too caught up in rudimentary romances while neglecting what should have been the plot's centrepiece, the pageant--Happy, Texas has an outstandingly funny opening 40 minutes and a cast that simply cannot be topped (Zahn and William H. Macy are standouts).

"This is my first feature," says Illsley, "but I really had to make it. I had this 'Someday' concept from my 20s, which was sticking around. Then in your 30s you realize it might not actually happen. I didn't want to be 70 and look back and regret not having done it."

Illsley is particularly proud of Happy, Texas's mixing of queer and straight characters. Though the premise is simple, as the film proceeds it's clear nothing is as it first seemed--with sexual secrets revealing themselves from various closets. Though apparently agenda-less, Happy has a sweet and sincere message about people being honest about who and what they are.

While it's a sign of progress on some fronts (straight and gay characters getting along in a we-are-the-world type movie), Happy, Texas is also an indication of just how far mainstream audiences have to go. Part of its marketing brilliance is the fact that it presents titillation over the gay thing, but also has characters who, in their heart of hearts, are straight. Thus those audience members who feel too uncomfortable identifying with a gay protagonist can manage Happy, while gay audience members will walk away sated as well.

"For us," concludes Illsley, "it's just about people who want to fall in love and find happiness--like we all do." :

Happy, Texas opens Friday, October 8