In & Out

"We had a gay teacher! We must face up to that, and move on with our lives."

A 1997 film directed by Frank Oz, which deals with homosexuality with some degree of fairness, despite occasionally leaning back on stereotypes for its characters. Granted, it was 1997, when the only easy way for the general public to tell somebody was gay was to fall back on stereotypes.

Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline), a high school English teacher in the "BIG small town" of Greenleaf, Indiana, is preparing for his marriage to his fiancée of three years, Emily Montgomery (Joan Cusack), while the whole town is abuzz with the news that hometown boy turned Hollywood megastar Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is picked as the favorite to win the Best Actor gong at the Academy Awards for his performance in a war film as a gay soldier. At Oscar night, the whole town is watching as Drake wins the award, and dedicates his award to Howard...

...and three seconds later, tells the whole world that Howard is gay.

The next day, Howard is beset with camera crews and reporters eager to get their slice of the story - including Peter Molloy (Tom Selleck), a reporter for an entertainment gossip show - and tries to tell everyone that Cameron's made a mistake. However, the openly gay Molloy isn't convinced, and is covering the days leading up to Howard's wedding because he suspects denial.

As the wedding draws near, and Howard finds himself under tremendous pressure from his parents, his fiancée and the school's principal (Bob Newhart), Howard tries to assert his heterosexuality, but even he starts questioning himself, and has to face the truth...

Has nothing to do with the superlative West-coast burger joint.

Tropes used in In & Out include:

Aldo: Yentl sucks.
Crowd: Oooh!
Howard: What did you say?
Aldo: It sucks. It's boring.
Howard: Say that again.
Aldo: She was too old for Yentl!
*Cue bar brawl*

  • Camp Gay: Averted. Howard's gayness is played up just enough that it's obvious to the audience, but lets it still be understandable that no-one in-story noticed it.
  • Cast Full of Gay: Not actually, but poor, twice-rejected Emily thinks she's trapped in one. "Is EVERYBODY gay? Is this like the Twilight Zone?"
  • Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: In the final scene, Cameron is implied to be starting a relationship with Emily. And his girlfriend is last seen dancing with Howard's brother. Hell Yeah.
  • Closet Key: Peter and, in a bizarre straight example, Cameron. Howard, not the type to ever consciously form a romantic relationship with someone he knew he wasn't attracted to, honestly didn't realize that he was gay until Cameron planted the seed in his mind. Peter forced him to acknowledge rather than deny what he was realizing. One has to wonder what tricks Howard's subconscious had to play to keep him from ever truly suspecting he wasn't straight. Being against premarital sex, fine, but not seeming to have any sexual desire at all for the person you're going to marry seems as though that might just tip off some sort of alarm. I might be gay. I might be asexual. I might not really be in love with this person. Something.
    • Asexuality wasn't a "thing" when this movie came out, at least to the extent it is today. He probably just assumed he didn't have a very big sex drive, and considering it is a small, "wholesome" town where people downplaying (or denying) their own sex drives would be standard, he probably just thought it was fairly normal to not act (or feel) particularly horny towards your significant other. He probably just assumed that when it actually came time to have sex he'd discover the proper arousal and desire for her he was supposed to have in that context with her.
  • Coming Out Story
  • Cure Your Gays: Howard attempts this with a self-help tape.
    • Well, since he's still convinced he isn't gay at that point, the tape is more of an attempt to "butch up", but the general principle still applies.
  • Dance Party Ending: To Macho Man. Yes, really.
  • Everyone Is Gay:

Emily: Is everyone gay?! Is this the Twilight Zone?!

  • The Fifties: Greenleaf, Indiana seems stuck in it.
  • Fired Teacher
  • Formerly Fat: Emily
  • Freudian Slippery Slope: "This is my Peter - uh, my *friend* Peter. We just met at the, uh, intersexual... homosection... INTERSECTION!"
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Howard before he lets the realization sink in.
  • I Am Spartacus: Everyone at the graduation ceremony coming to Howard's aid when he's fired.
  • Likes Older Women: Cameron
  • No Bisexuals: But it was Fair for Its Day. The movie portrayed homosexuals in a positive (though stereotyped) light and homophobia as paranoiacally idiotic. This was back before the phrase LGBT was thrown around as a catch-all.
  • N-Word Privileges: Meta-example. The screenwriter, Paul Rudnick, is an openly gay man who seems to enjoy playing with gay stereotypes (if his other works Jeffrey and the Stepford Wives remake are anything to go by).
  • Oscar Bait: Parodied mercilessly, along with every other Oscars-related trope, in the opening segment where Cameron wins the award.
  • Platonic Life Partners: In hindsight, this is probably how Howard thought of Emily when they were engaged, given that he's not attracted to her physically.
  • Post-Kiss Catatonia: Howard, after getting a good ten second kiss from Peter.
  • The Ditz: Carl.

Carl: Why is everyone talking about Howard?
Mrs. Lester: Because he likes DICK, Carl!
Carl: Oh. [Beat.] Who's Dick?

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