There are funny movies and there are silly movies -- this falls into the latter category.
To fully enjoy this movie you need to just-so-slightly lower your expectations concerning plot, character and outcome. If you can do that, you'll have a ball. Steve Zahn does a great unhinged-hick turn as a chain-gang con who is forced to pretend he's an expert at staging kiddie beauty pageants. And, oh yeah, he and his accomplice (Jeremy Northam) are supposed to be gay!
Lots of small-town humor abounds, with fine bits from Illeana Douglas and -- best of all -- William H. Macy as a local sheriff who develops a comic crush on someone he shouldn't.
An ill-advised chase scene (complete with plot twist) near the end mars an otherwise sweet-natured character piece set in the wilds of Happy, Texas.
To fully enjoy this movie you need to just-so-slightly lower your expectations concerning plot, character and outcome. If you can do that, you'll have a ball. Steve Zahn does a great unhinged-hick turn as a chain-gang con who is forced to pretend he's an expert at staging kiddie beauty pageants. And, oh yeah, he and his accomplice (Jeremy Northam) are supposed to be gay!
Lots of small-town humor abounds, with fine bits from Illeana Douglas and -- best of all -- William H. Macy as a local sheriff who develops a comic crush on someone he shouldn't.
An ill-advised chase scene (complete with plot twist) near the end mars an otherwise sweet-natured character piece set in the wilds of Happy, Texas.