This Sundance sensation is the equivalent to consuming an ice cream sundae - tasty and enjoyable but insubstantial with little long-lasting effect. Written by Mark Illsley, Ed Stone and Phil Reeves, and directed by Illsley, "Happy, Texas" is a combination of a heist movie, a romantic comedy, a buddy movie and a satire, with some sexual confusion thrown in for good measure. The result is a film that is fun to watch, but which barely leaves an impression once you’ve stepped out of the theater.

Escaped convicts Harry (Jeremy Northam) and Wayne (Steve Zahn) steal a camper van belonging to Stephen and David, two gay beauty pageant consultants, and run off to Happy, Texas, where they assume the identities of the van owners and proceed to hatch a plan that will free them. Harry works on the local bank president, Josephine (Ally Walker), intending to woo and win her trust so he can rob the bank during the pageant; what he doesn’t count on is attracting the affections of the earnest, nice-guy sheriff Chappy (William H. Macy) in the process. Meanwhile, Wayne is tasked with training five pre-adolescent girls for the Little Miss Squeezed Pageant, with the help of Ms. Schafer (Ileana Douglas), a lonely and charming spinster. Of course, things don’t go as planned, the convicts find love, an old con from their past comes to threaten their lives and it all ends with an exuberant song and dance routine performed by five adorable little girls who were obviously inspired by Hallie from those Pepsi commercials.

Illsley freely admitted that he had set out to make a movie, any movie really, when he hooked up with Ed Stone who had conceived the idea for the story and the duo came up with a script that must have looked pretty amazing in order to attract such a big talent cast. As expected, Macy is his usual reliable self, giving Chappy a level of angst that makes his character the most realistic of the lot. Ally Walker, best known as television’s "The Profiler", takes a dramatic departure from her intense crime solving duties to play a woman stuck in a bad relationship who begins to fall into a worse one without realizing it. She’s likable and a good foil to Jeremy Northam, appearing in his third film this year after "The Winslow Boy" and "An Ideal Husband". The classically trained Northam sounds funny when speaking in his newly acquired accent, but he does bring a duplicitous quality to Harry that makes his character convincing as a con. He also lays on the romanticism and dashing qualities that causes the audience to root for the romance between Harry and Josephine. However, this trio is let down by Illsley’s handling of the material. Scenes are so sluggishly directed as to almost suck the life out of the tensions and conflicts that are evident in the situations. Consequently, instead of intensely caring about any of these three admittedly intriguing characters played with verve and energy by three very charismatic actors, audiences may find their part of the plot ho-hum and run-of-the-mill - the fault lies squarely upon the shoulders of the director.

Illsley also stumbles in his treatment of the relationship between Wayne and Ms Schafer. Zahn won a special award at Sundance for his work here, and as he has proven in many earlier films, he is a gifted comedy performer who manages to mine the unexpected in his characters and provide laughs and pathos galore. Here, Illsley more or less lets him do whatever he wants, and the result is an exuberant performance that, unfortunately, overpowers Ileana Douglas’ more subtle work as the pent up Ms. Schafer. The script is quick to throw the two together, although there is little motivation for their attraction, and although Douglas and Zahn make an endearing odd couple and try their best, something is sorely lacking in this other central romance.

The film becomes bogged down in its third act by the reappearance of a minor character and although it ends on a logically believable note, Illsley doesn’t manage to capitalize on the sweet and endearing aspects of his script and cast. Instead, the entire film plays like an extended situation comedy that offers a few laughs and a handful of very talented and charming actors who have been under-directed by an over-eager novice who should have learnt his craft before embarking on the project. "Happy, Texas" was shot in 26 days in California - with this director at its helm, I doubt if any circumstances would have made this a better picture than the actors have already made it. Worth watching for its notable and enjoyable cast and a few moments of humor; just don’t expect it to change your life.

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