Review of In & Out (1997) by Josh G — 20 Sep 2010

I don't like how broad a lot of the humor is in In & Out. The movie wants to do two different things, and that doesn't work.

On the one hand, it wants to have a kind of serious story about a man who is struggling with questions about his sexuality - both internal and external questions. After beloved high school teacher Mr. Brackett (Kline) is referred to as gay by his former student (Dillon) during an Academy Award acceptance speech, he's got the face up to the townspeople whose perceptions of him have changed overnight. The current students who loved spending time with him and requested his aid are now afraid to stay in the same room with him. Furthermore, his own aversion to physical relations with his fiancee have gotten Brackett wondering himself.

This is all interesting and compelling stuff. When Brackett's friend and boss "warns" him that he might be out a job if the wedding does not go as planned, it's shocking and enraging - regardless of whether he is or is not gay. However, the movie undercuts its own emotional core by reverting to stupid hammy jokes repeatedly. Dillon's character is supposed to be winning an award for a powerful drama in which he plays a gay character in a war zone. But in the film-within-a-film, he gets outed for owning a copy of the movie Beaches. Later on, Kline's character listens to a self-help tape (on cassette, how quaint!) in order to appear more masculine. The scene quickly devolves into dumb spectacle.

I'm not saying that the comedy aspect of the film should have been thrown out entirely. Kline is an incredible comic actor and some of the mannerisms he uses (e.g. his hand movements) which make him seem flamboyant can be quite funny - especially when they are pointed out by other characters. A moment late in the film where Bob Newhart concedes that gay people are free to do whatever they want in their "private area", then struggles to correct his sentence to the equally absurd "private arena" had me cracking up. Wilford Brimley's awkward conversations with his son were all enjoyable and sweet.

But then there's a joke about a super-model wherein she claims that she has to vomit before going out. And then there's that painful "Dick who?" joke which has got to be groan-inducing even for the movie's super-fans.

I guess I liked In & Out over-all, but it's an uneven film. It wants to be goofy, but also have a sentimentality which it fails to earn... because it undermines it with the goofiness. The climax of the film is both the strongest and the weakest sequence. Because it focuses so much on being "serious", the humor is allowed to work its way in smoothly instead of being brought into the spotlight. On the other hand, the forced and schmaltzy Dead Poet's Society-ish finale was exasperating.

It's a hit-or-miss movie. I think more miss than hit, but still pleasant enough.