In & Out (1997)

“I’m a horrible person. You have every right to hate me. You should hate me. I want you to hate me! I insist that you hate me! I’m scum, I’m garbage, I’m vermin, an-an-and I’m sorry. ” – Howard

Number of Times Seen – 2 (Cable in the 90’s and 4 Apr 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A small town teacher must deal with the fallout when a former student accidentally tells the world that he is gay on TV

My Take on it – This movie has so much going for it but the plot keeps it from achieving an even greater level of entertainment.

This is a film about tolerance and the writers just don’t want to let that go and bombard us for the entire film about how tolerant we all must be even though we don’t realize that we are ignoring the situation.

I’m all for tolerance, but they just overdue it here.

Even wih a superb cast, it still can’t get over that hump.

Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck, Joan Cusack, Wilford Brimsley, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Newhart and Matt Dillion all do a nice job within the confines set up here.

There are really some great scenes, but the great majority of the scenes are completely underwhelming.

The message about tolerance that they constantly bombard us with was dealt in a much funnier and poignant fashion by Seinfeld a few years earlier… Not that there’s anything wrong with it….

The plot is based in part on a portion of Tom Hanks’ Oscar winning speech for Philadelphia where he thanks a gay teacher.  The twist here tho is that the teacher thanked isn’t really gay.

Here’s a clip of Hanks’ speech

Also loved how they decided to give Arnie a fictional Oscar Nomination along with some other big name stars. 🙂

Bottom Line – Has some great moments, but overall is underwhelming. Great cast but even they can’t help raise the level of entertainment here.  Message about tolerance is clear, but Seinfeld still did it better. Love how the plot comes from a factual event but with different reactions.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The Oscar statuette used in the film is Kevin Kline’s. He won it in 1988 for Best Supporting Actor in A Fish Called Wanda (1988).  (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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