In & Out Movie Review

In & Out is a 1997 comedy film directed by Frank Oz and starring Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck. It’s a very entertaining, but cliched flick.

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“Truly manly men do NOT dance“

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The friends and family of Howard, a popular teacher, are shocked when one of his students announces that he is gay. Howard then tries his best to prove that he is heterosexual. It’s a solid premise ripe for laughs, and I have to say that they mostly mined it so well. The second half definitely faltered, but the first one is pretty funny throughout.

The jokes about gayness are clearly very stereotypical, but are pretty well executed with some scenes being downright hilarious. I also found its characters quite memorable and well developed. Howard Brackett is very well written and a great protagonist so well played by Kevin Kline in quite a strong turn from him.

I also really liked Tom Selleck here. The two are great together. However, the movie so clearly tried to stay away from portraying any real sexuality (sex and/or relationship) that it really bothered me. These two could have been a fun couple, but we ended up with them just sharing one kiss and that’s pretty much it.

Matt Dillon is very likable as Cameron Drake, and the whole Academy Awards setup was excellent and a whole lot of fun. Those scenes at the Oscars were clearly the funniest in the film. But I have to say that I did not care for Joan Cusack’s character as I found her over-the-top, cliched and taking too much screen time from everyone else to be honest.

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In & Out could have been a really good movie had they stuck the landing with the second half and the ending, but unfortunately the ending itself is so annoyingly over-the-top in its preachiness and cheesiness. Whereas the first half was clever, the second one was anything but. The dialogue is great and the humor is pretty good, but I wanted a bit more sophisticated themes and interesting scenarios instead of just resorting to manipulative emotions and the easy way out.

In & Out is undeniably funny, at times even downright hilarious in its first half. This is where the film was very effective, hugely entertaining and very well written. Unfortunately, that was all squandered in the second half where the movie clearly faltered with a particularly cheesy ending. The performances, though, are excellent and its characters are quite memorable.