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Happy, Texas - Special Edition
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Famous in the indie world for Miramax's record purchase of the film at Sundance, Happy,TX went through a number of cuts and edits before dissapearing from theaters quickly after its release. The film stars Steve Zahn("You've Got Mail") and Jeremy Northam("The Net") as escaped convicts Wayne Wayne...Wayne, Jr. and Harry Sawyer, who are looking for a place to hide after getting away from prison duty. They find themselves in the small burb of Happy, Texas where, instead of being arrested, they are hired to consult on the local beauty pageant in a case of mistaken identity.
There are some genuinely funny moments, and they're almost all offered by Zahn, who goes with a similar character to the goofy, not terribly bright character he played in "Out Of Sight". There's something genuinely hilarious watching Zahn direct a bunch of little girls how to dance in a beauty pageant. Other than that, though, the rest of the movie really doesn't work that well. Northam (who the directors say that they hired him because he was "a good actor") may be a very good actor, but he feels out of place in a comedy like this.
The supporting cast is very good, with William Macy as the local sheriff who wants to be more than friends with Northam's character, and Ally Walker as well as Illenana Douglas as the two local girls who the convincts fall for. There are some genuinely funny moments here and there, but for a 98 minute film, there's a few too many moments that go flat without any solid laughs. With Zahn being the only solid comic actor in the movie, it's really only his scenes that generate any humor.
It's a little messy with all the editing that had to be done, a little silly, a little goofy. It's a light, occasionally funny film. Nothing earth shattering, but a decent effort.
The DVD
VIDEO: Miramax has actually done an excellent job on the anamorphic transfer for "Happy, TX". Although a scene or two here and there unintentionally looks a little blah, there are some sequences in the Texas scenery that look really great and are captured nicely on this DVD. Throughout, the image is clear and certainly sharp, never looking soft and containing good detail. Colors are very nice looking, natural and without any problems.
No suprise for a new film, there aren't any flaws with the print used. The only thing I really noticed as a flaw was a couple of small instances of shimmering. Other than that, this is a very nice looking film with some cinematography by Bruce Douglas Johnson("The Prophecy", "Public Access") that captures the scenes and scenery nicely.
SOUND: Mainly dialogue-driven, there's nothing terribly flashy about the audio for "Happy, TX". A basic film in terms of sound, the film mainly goes forward with a nice, light score and clear dialogue. The sound does the job it sets out to do, but don't expect much from it.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated main menus taken from the cover art, or photos from the film.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary track with director Mark Illsley and writer/producer Ed Stone. Given all of the edits that were forced by Miramax, and the lack of box office success for the film, the two are in a suprisingly good mood throughout the commentary, offering a totally goofy and entertaining discussion of the movie.
It's a totally honest commentary, talking about all of the problems that came up during the filming of a very small independent film like this one - reshoots, doubles and same areas used for more than one scene, not to mention all of the places they had to go to find funding for what the movie turned into after it expanded. There's a lot of talk as well about what they think didn't work in the film, which makes for a very interesting discussion.
There's also quite a bit of talk about the editing that had to go on throughout the movie, and the two talk about what had to go and why, although I would have liked more talk about their feelings on the fact that this material had to go, since I believe Miramax did the cutting. There seems to be quite a bit of cutting on this film and reshoots, and in an interesting section, the two talk about how characters would be having a discussion and the different cuts would be people speaking at totally different times, but cut together as one scene, which works suprisingly well. The other problem is that there's an instance or two where the two almost have to explain a joke.
It's a really funny commentary, and I found much of it a little more entertaining than watching the movie itself.
Deleted Scenes: This is where you get to see the original "Happy, Texas", with about 20 minutes worth of deleted scenes that were taken from the original Sundance film festival cut of the film. There are some funny, interesting moments, but they either don't work that well in the film or are a little confusing. Commentary from director Illsley tells the viewer exactly what was changed in the scene, and why the scene was deleted or changed.
The Creation Of "Happy, Tx": An interview with the director and writer/producer that further details the history of the story idea and how everything came together. The interview is about 16 minutes in length.
Music Videos: Shannon Brown, "Half A Man"; Pam Tillis, "After A Kiss".
Also: An 8 minute featurette with interviews from the cast and crew, but strangely, there's no trailer included.
Final Thoughts: The movie isn't too bad, an above-average indie comedy. I appreciate that Miramax tried to put together a special edition for the film, but for a movie that made around 2 million dollars, I don't think anyone who didn't see the film is going to risk $39.99 (retail) on a special edition disc. Although the extra content is very good, other studios have put together more impressive content for similar-sized films for less cost in terms of the DVD. I personally don't think it's worth it in this case, but for those who like the movie, they'll find a lot to enjoy on Miramax's effort.
Famous in the indie world for Miramax's record purchase of the film at Sundance, Happy,TX went through a number of cuts and edits before dissapearing from theaters quickly after its release. The film stars Steve Zahn("You've Got Mail") and Jeremy Northam("The Net") as escaped convicts Wayne Wayne...Wayne, Jr. and Harry Sawyer, who are looking for a place to hide after getting away from prison duty. They find themselves in the small burb of Happy, Texas where, instead of being arrested, they are hired to consult on the local beauty pageant in a case of mistaken identity.
There are some genuinely funny moments, and they're almost all offered by Zahn, who goes with a similar character to the goofy, not terribly bright character he played in "Out Of Sight". There's something genuinely hilarious watching Zahn direct a bunch of little girls how to dance in a beauty pageant. Other than that, though, the rest of the movie really doesn't work that well. Northam (who the directors say that they hired him because he was "a good actor") may be a very good actor, but he feels out of place in a comedy like this.
The supporting cast is very good, with William Macy as the local sheriff who wants to be more than friends with Northam's character, and Ally Walker as well as Illenana Douglas as the two local girls who the convincts fall for. There are some genuinely funny moments here and there, but for a 98 minute film, there's a few too many moments that go flat without any solid laughs. With Zahn being the only solid comic actor in the movie, it's really only his scenes that generate any humor.
It's a little messy with all the editing that had to be done, a little silly, a little goofy. It's a light, occasionally funny film. Nothing earth shattering, but a decent effort.
The DVD
VIDEO: Miramax has actually done an excellent job on the anamorphic transfer for "Happy, TX". Although a scene or two here and there unintentionally looks a little blah, there are some sequences in the Texas scenery that look really great and are captured nicely on this DVD. Throughout, the image is clear and certainly sharp, never looking soft and containing good detail. Colors are very nice looking, natural and without any problems.
No suprise for a new film, there aren't any flaws with the print used. The only thing I really noticed as a flaw was a couple of small instances of shimmering. Other than that, this is a very nice looking film with some cinematography by Bruce Douglas Johnson("The Prophecy", "Public Access") that captures the scenes and scenery nicely.
SOUND: Mainly dialogue-driven, there's nothing terribly flashy about the audio for "Happy, TX". A basic film in terms of sound, the film mainly goes forward with a nice, light score and clear dialogue. The sound does the job it sets out to do, but don't expect much from it.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated main menus taken from the cover art, or photos from the film.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary track with director Mark Illsley and writer/producer Ed Stone. Given all of the edits that were forced by Miramax, and the lack of box office success for the film, the two are in a suprisingly good mood throughout the commentary, offering a totally goofy and entertaining discussion of the movie.
It's a totally honest commentary, talking about all of the problems that came up during the filming of a very small independent film like this one - reshoots, doubles and same areas used for more than one scene, not to mention all of the places they had to go to find funding for what the movie turned into after it expanded. There's a lot of talk as well about what they think didn't work in the film, which makes for a very interesting discussion.
There's also quite a bit of talk about the editing that had to go on throughout the movie, and the two talk about what had to go and why, although I would have liked more talk about their feelings on the fact that this material had to go, since I believe Miramax did the cutting. There seems to be quite a bit of cutting on this film and reshoots, and in an interesting section, the two talk about how characters would be having a discussion and the different cuts would be people speaking at totally different times, but cut together as one scene, which works suprisingly well. The other problem is that there's an instance or two where the two almost have to explain a joke.
It's a really funny commentary, and I found much of it a little more entertaining than watching the movie itself.
Deleted Scenes: This is where you get to see the original "Happy, Texas", with about 20 minutes worth of deleted scenes that were taken from the original Sundance film festival cut of the film. There are some funny, interesting moments, but they either don't work that well in the film or are a little confusing. Commentary from director Illsley tells the viewer exactly what was changed in the scene, and why the scene was deleted or changed.
The Creation Of "Happy, Tx": An interview with the director and writer/producer that further details the history of the story idea and how everything came together. The interview is about 16 minutes in length.
Music Videos: Shannon Brown, "Half A Man"; Pam Tillis, "After A Kiss".
Also: An 8 minute featurette with interviews from the cast and crew, but strangely, there's no trailer included.
Final Thoughts: The movie isn't too bad, an above-average indie comedy. I appreciate that Miramax tried to put together a special edition for the film, but for a movie that made around 2 million dollars, I don't think anyone who didn't see the film is going to risk $39.99 (retail) on a special edition disc. Although the extra content is very good, other studios have put together more impressive content for similar-sized films for less cost in terms of the DVD. I personally don't think it's worth it in this case, but for those who like the movie, they'll find a lot to enjoy on Miramax's effort.
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