In & Out (1997) or, Come Out and Dance

♥♥♥♥

 

Star Kevin Kline strikes a pumped up, awkward pose on this bright poster for Frank Oz's In & Out

Brackett is a popular high school teacher, who is about to get married, when an old student outs him in his Oscar winner's speech. But this is all just a misunderstanding ... - Or is it?

 

In & Out is written by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey (1995)) and directed by English-born American master filmmaker Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal (1982)), whose 8th feature it is.

Kevin Kline (Dean (2016)) is in top comedic shape and gets good support here from Joan Cusack (Snatched (2017)), Tom Selleck (Boston Legal (2006, TV-series)) and Debbie Reynolds (Bundle of Joy (1956)). The fun includes a risible disco self-help tape scene.

In & Out is a bubbly, enthused attack on prejudices against gays, such as the commonest one: that homosexuality is infectious. SPOILER The graduation scene, in which everyone 'is gay' is not very good. But the following mass dance scene is fine. 

In & Out makes you happy.

 

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1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Bowfinger (1999) or, Making Chubby Rain 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 35 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 63.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a box office success (projected return of 2.57 times its cost)

[In & Out premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 92 minutes. The script was inspired by Tom Hanks' tearful speech at his Oscar win for Philadelphia in 1994, in which he identified and named his high school drama teacher and a former classmate as gay. Shooting took place from February 1997 - ? in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #1 to a 15 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained in the top 5 for another 4 weekends (#2-#4-#4-#5) and grossed 63.8 mil. $. The foreign gross numbers are regrettably not public information. The film sold 64,581 tickets in Denmark, approximately 610k $, not a bad figure in a small market. This may indicate that the film had decent sales abroad as well, and a 100 mil. $ final gross is not impossible, although it seems curious that studios at the time did not release information about such good sales. My projected final gross is a more conservative 90 mil. $. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, Best Supporting Actress (Cusack), lost to Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Oz returned with Bowfinger (1999). Kline returned in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). In & Out is fresh at 73 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In & Out?