Day One Hundred and Nineteen - Happy, Texas, "Safe, Cliche, but not Over The Top."

You know, there's just something wrong with Happy, Texas... but, also something right.

In the perhaps not-so-proud tradition of prison escape/mistaken identity films like We're No Angels, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and... Taking Care of Business, I guess... Happy, Texas pairs Jeremy Northam and Steve Zahn as a pair of convicts who steal a gay couple's RV in rural Texas and wind up posing as traveling beauty pageant consultants to the small town that hired them.

I think, nominally, the film is supposed to play on country living and fish out of water tropes, what with the small town folk just assuming any awkwardness from the faux-gay jailbirds is just natural for "them" and the not-too-bright country folk (like the slow gentleman who bids on his own tires at an auction), but things sort of take a turn in the second act when Sheriff Chappy (William H. Macy) reveals that he's gay, himself.

Now, I'm not saying the movie strays too much from its cliches... both of the masquerading convicts are still straight (not breaking any molds there) and both manage to play up the fake-gay for their own benefit, with Wayne (Zahn) taking up choreography and sewing and Harry (Northam) giving the beautiful Joe (Ally Walker) facials and footrubs. It's just that Chappy steals the show as a perfectly normal, perfectly adorable gay man just looking for love in a town where he can't rightly find it.

There's nothing cliche about Chappy. He's every bit a Texas Lawman without the stereotypical racism and bigotry that we, as a culture, have come to expect. He stern, but understanding... an outdoorsman and hunter... and has that quiet wisdom when dealing with folks, both outsiders and locals. Sure, a few things tend to surprise him, like when Wayne and Harry give him cause to believe his own preconceptions about the gay couple he's expecting, but Macy always plays it light and, well, straight-faced.

Honestly, there's not much of a movie here without Chappy.

As much as I like Zahn (That Thing You Do, You've Got Mail), here he is pretty much either a bundle of violent frustration or lust and Northam is just your typical lothario who makes good over the course of the film.

Ally Walker was great as The Profiler, but is pretty much just a placeholder here, with nothing to really chew on emotionally in bonding and romancing Northam as Josephine the Banker. The same can be said for her counterpart Doreen (Illeana Douglas) whose actress often plays the same sort of heavily accented, hick gal. There's really no arc for either of them, just a smooth transition from suspicious to full on head over heels.

Put together, the only thing really entertaining and redeeming about the film is Macy's performance as the Sheriff who is trying to find love. Whether it's the heart to heart over beer (then guns) or the actual date at the dance club (two-and-a-half hours away) or the post-climax revelations, Chappy is what makes Happy, Texas somewhat redeemable.

Personally, I'd rather watch Robin Williams and Nathan Lane playing up the stereotypes in The Birdcage than I would Zahn and Northam faking gay to find themselves in small town Texas, but the film did have a moment or two... but only just that.

I'd say pass, overall, if not for Macy's performance... Happy, Texas is worth a lazy watch if there's nothing else in your queue, but I can't recommend it for much else.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Sixty-three - Titan A.E., or "Come back down to Earth, oh yeah."

I have fond memories of Don Bluth's work in the 80's.

The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail, and All Dogs Go to Heaven were great films that managed to weave death and darkness in addition to basic heroism in children's tales in a way that both frightened and inspired me in my early years. He never really shied away from violence or despair and I loved him for that.

When I first saw trailers for Titan A.E., I was already an adult and thought it was great that he was tackling Science Fiction... especially considering most of his 90's films just hadn't done it for me.

This was especially important because it seemed to have subtle anime stylings as well. Now, that may have just been me projecting. I was just discovering anime as a medium despite having been exposed to it early through the Americanizations of Voltron and Robotech. In my late teens, though, I was finally beginning to realize that there were dozens of schools and styles across the Pacific that Americans were just discovering and spreading. Akima's obvious Asian heritage in Titan A.E. probably just triggered my Weeaboo button when it shouldn't have.

Either way, back then... I was excited for Titan.

Then I saw it.

I thought it was alright, and the grand majority of its CGI animation (the Dredge notwithstanding) was pretty good for the era, but there were better space opera alternatives at the time... like the ill-fated Invasion America.

Coming back to it almost fifteen years later, thanks to Netflix, I feel that my initial hesitance was justified. It's a fun little adventure, at times, but is mostly terrible thanks to puerile writing and predictable story arcs.

I mean, it's one thing to make a chosen one story in space... it's quite another to rely on a silly overly-menacing villain race, an unnecessary second act betrayal, and a love story that comes out of nowhere.

To be honest, I really wanted to believe the Kale/Akima romance, but there was nothing really there. They go from hostile to bosom buddies with little to no prompting and with absolutely no obvious chemistry. Not to mention the fact that when they are both captured and Akima is doomed to the vast expanse of space by the Dredge (the terribad CGI villains of Titan A.E.), she just happens to be picked up by slavers so she can be conveniently rescued by the rest of the crew?

Just how far does a tracking implant transmit, anyway? Yeesh.

Added to that cheese is the second act turn by the Han Solo-esque captain, Korso, and the laughable action sequences, where Janeane Garofalo and Drew Barrymore do nothing but spout inane one-liners and yell petulantly at incoming Dredge fighters, and they pretty much lost me completely.

Just a tip, Don... when you announce that all of the enemy fighters break off to return to the mother ship for a Death Star-like superlaser attack only to have two conveniently come back and attack in what has to be the single most obvious plot hole I've seen in months, you know things you should've known there were problems in the writer's room.

If Anastasia or Rock-a-Doodle hadn't done it, Titan A.E. definitely nailed the coffin shut on Don Bluth's career for me. You are so much better off watching Heavy Metal 2000 for silly space fantasy.

I'm serious... F.A.K.K.2 did a much better job with pretty much every single archetype that Titan A.E. used... but to much greater affect.

And with a better soundtrack, too.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~