Ordinarily, I really like Illeana Douglas. She was one of the reasons I looked forward to "Happy, Texas". Overall, I liked the film very much. But Douglas' "southern accent" was right out of acting school and a major distractant. If non-southerners must disguise their origins, it can be done. Just as in "The Gingerbread Man" where Kenneth Branagh gave Daryl Hannah a lesson in American accents, so to in this film, Jeremy Northam does a credible portrayl of a Texan although from the UK. But why go to the trouble. In today's highly mobile, cosmopolitan society, "everybody is from somewhere else and talks the same". If a geniune Texan is essential for the role, hire a Texan.
Review of Happy, Texas
