In & Out *** (1997, Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, Tom Selleck) – Classic Movie Review 1778

Director Frank Oz’s good-natured and enterprising but shaky 1997 comedy stars Kevin Kline as a small-town American teacher who’s about to be married to his childhood sweetheart (Joan Cusack) when he is outed as gay on international television by a former pupil (Matt Dillon) in his acceptance speech while winning an Oscar.

As the media circus descends on the small town of Greenleaf, the locals are in a tizzy, wondering if the teacher is in fact gay, especially as he exhibits stereotypical gay tendencies like loving music, dancing, poetry and Barbra Streisand.

Kline is funny and charming, Cusack is appealing and the movie’s heart is in the right place, but the fun is patchy and the tone hesitant. It doesn’t help that Tom Selleck and Kline look very uncomfortable kissing.

Screenwriter Paul Rudnick came up with this fantasy based on Tom Hanks’s Oscar-winning speech after his best actor win for Philadelphia, mentioning his drama teacher.

Debbie Reynolds, Wilford Brimley, Bob Newhart, Gregory Jbara, Shalom Harlow, Shawn Hatosy, Zak Orth, Lauren Ambrose and Selma Blair co-star. Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Jay Leno appear unbilled as themselves. Cusack was Oscar and Golden Globe nominated as Best Supporting Actress.

Rudnick also wrote Addams Family Values (1993), Jeffrey (1995), Isn’t She Great (2000) and The Stepford Wives  (2004). He writes a monthly satirical film review column for Premiere magazine under the name Libby Gelman-Waxner.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1778

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