IN & OUT [1997 / 2021] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] ‘IN & OUT’ is a Light-hearted Comedy Gently Satirises Coming Out! A Comedy Hilarious Knockout!
Welcome to Greenleaf, a picture-postcard Indiana town where the high school is the proud focus of attention and “alternative lifestyle” means you bowl on alternate Tuesdays. But on the night of the Oscars® being televised, the town and the world is centred of attention is Greenleaf teacher Howard Brackett [Kevin Kline]. A former student who's now a superstar actor tells an audience of millions that Howard Brackett is gay. Poor Howard Brackett, he has been outted when he didn't know he was in!
Kevin Kline plays stunned Howard Brackett, scrambling to go forth with his wedding to devoted Emily Montgomery [Joan Cusack] and doing his frantic best to assert his manliness. With very clever dialogue, antic situations and a stellar cast that includes Matt Dillon, Tom Selleck, Debbie Reynolds and Bob Newhart, ‘IN & OUT’ is out-and-out fun!
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1997 American Comedy Awards: Win: Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Joan Cusack. 1997 Awards Circuit Community Awards: Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Joan Cusack. 1997 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. 1997 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. 1997 Society of Texas Film Critics Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. 1998 Academy Awards®: Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Joan Cusack. 1998 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards: Nominated: Favorite Actor in a Comedy for Kevin Kline. Nominated: Favorite Actress in a Comedy for Joan Cusack. Nominated: Favorite Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Tom Selleck. Nominated: Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Debbie Reynolds. 1998 Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards: Win: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. 1998 Casting Society of America: Nominated: Artios Award for Best Casting for a Comedy Feature Film for Margery Simkin. 1998 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. 1998 GLAAD Media Awards: Win: Outstanding Film ‘IN & OUT.’ 1998 Golden Globes Awards: Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture in a Comedy or Musical for Kevin Kline. Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for Joan Cusack. 1998 MTV Movie + TV Awards: Nominated: Best Kiss for Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck. 1998 Online Film & Television Association: Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack. Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Comedy/Musical Actor for Kevin Kline. Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Comedy/Musical Actress for Joan Cusack. 1998 Satellite Awards: Win: Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for Joan Cusack. Nominated: Golden Satellite Award for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for Scott Rudin. Nominated: Golden Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical for Kevin Kline. 2018 20/20 Awards: Nominated: Felix Award for Best Supporting Actress for Joan Cusack.
FILM FACT No.2: The film ‘IN & OUT’ was inspired by Tom Hanks's tearful speech when he accepted his 1994 Oscar® for his role in the film ‘Philadelphia,’ in which Tom Hanks mentioned his high-school drama coach Rawley Farnsworth, and his former classmate John Gilkerson, "two of the finest gay Americans, two wonderful men that I had the good fortune to be associated with." The film became one of mainstream Hollywood's few attempts at a comedic "gay movie" of its era, and was widely noted at the time for a 12-second kiss between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck. According to Frank Oz, production had to be stopped temporarily because "we all got sick...because we all got the flu." Frank Oz and Wilford Brimley reportedly did not get along during production, however neither of them have ever elaborated on what caused the friction between the two. Selected for its "beautiful auditorium, a great gymnasium" and other aesthetic qualities, the Pompton Lakes High School in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey was used extensively as a filming location for the film ‘IN & OUT.’
Cast: Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, Tom Selleck, Matt Dillon, Debbie Reynolds, Wilford Brimley, Bob Newhart, Gregory Jbara, Shalom Harlow, Shawn Hatosy, Zak Orth, Lauren Ambrose, Alexandra Holden, Lewis J. Stadlen, Deborah Rush, J. Smith-Cameron, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Debra Monk, Ernie Sabella, John Cunningham [“Be a Man” Tape Instructor voice], Gus Rogerson, Dan Hedaya, Joseph Maher, William Parry, William Duell, Richard Woods, Kevin Chamberlin, Wally Dunn, Larry Clarke, June Squibb, Alice Drummond, Mary Diveny, Anne Russell, Patrick Garner, Adam LeFevre, Bill Camp, Scott Robertson, John Christopher Jones, MacIntyre Dixon, Joanna Wolff, Chris McKenna, Mark Ballou, Charlie Newmark, Andrew Levitas, Jonathan Michael Hershfield, D.J. Dierker, Seth Ullian, Greg Siff, Ryan Janis, Jane Hoffman, Becky Ann Baker, William P. Hoag, Daniel B. Canton, Selma Blair, Patricia Guinan, Nesbitt Blaisdell, Samantha Buck, Lauren Fox, Lizzy Mahon, Simone Marean, Michael McGruther, Niki Roma, Jacqueline Manning, Patrick Mylod, Virginia Williams, Joshua Wade, Jill Horner, Lauren Ward, Julie Entwisle, Clare Kramer, Miranda Kent, Tara Carnes, Arden Myrin, Ian Sherwood, Kevin Keating, Kathy Lyn Cavanaugh, Jo-Jo Lowe, Lisa Emery, Gary DeWitt Marshall, Marla Sucharetza, Ronald Rand, Ross de Marco, Joanne DiMauro, Tony Jones, Grace DeSena, Bruce Bennetts, Tracy Appleton, Jim Taylor McNickle, Laura Caulfield, Mimi Stuart, Dinah Gravel, Peter Barmonde, Glenn Close (uncredited), Stephanie Dale (uncredited), Joy Decker (uncredited), Charles Dumas (uncredited), Whoopi Goldberg (uncredited), Geoffrey Gould (uncredited), Jeannette Gould (uncredited), John F. Hall (uncredited), Cara Jedell (uncredited), Lloyd LeBaron (uncredited), Jay Leno (uncredited), Patrick Thomas McCarthy (uncredited), Reid Mihalko (uncredited), James M. Palombo (uncredited), Ric Sechrest (uncredited), Todd Stockman (uncredited), Jovanna Vitiello (uncredited) and Valeria Von Leczycki Goncharova Barrett (uncredited)
Director: Frank Oz
Producers: Adam Schroeder, G. Mac Brown, Scott Rudin and Suzanne Santry
Screenplay: Paul Rudnick
Composer: Marc Shaiman
Costume Designer: Ann Roth
Cinematography: Rob Hahn (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
German: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Japanese: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German and Japanese
Running Time: 90 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: With the film ‘IN & OUT’ [1997] we find Good-natured small town high school teacher Howard Brackett [Kevin Kline] has it pretty good! Howard Brackett loves teaching Shakespeare and poetry, his students adore him, and he is about to marry long-time fiancée Emily Montgomery [Joan Cusack]. One of his former students, Cameron Drake [Matt Dillon], has even gone on to become a famous movie star. When Cameron Drake wins an Oscar, he thanks his "gay teacher" on national television by “outing” Howard Brackett in front of the whole world. The trouble is that Howard Brackett insists he is not gay ... or is he? Howard Brackett must decide before his wedding day what to do, and it doesn't help that the handsome gay entertainment reporter Peter Malloy [Tom Selleck] has decided to stay in town to do an in-depth story on the hapless teacher Howard Brackett.
Howard Brackett, Emily Montgomery and the good citizens of Greenleaf are totally flabbergasted. TV crews, headed by Peter Malloy descend upon the sleepy town. Howard Brackett's pupils have trouble taking it all in and typical say small minded statements like “He was my hero...until yesterday” or believing what they have been told by saying, "Mr. Brackett's not gay! He just likes poetry and Shakespeare and uses his napkin.” Howard Brackett is in a right tizzy. Howard Brackett’s mother Berniece Brackett [Debbie Reynolds] won't hear of cancelling the wedding. Howard Brackett’s fiancée Emily Montgomery doesn't know where to look. But eventually for Howard Brackett to officially “come out,” he has to admit he likes Barbra Streisand, dancing and neat bowties. It's that easy and of course small town America can breathe again.
Tom Selleck is the macho TV action reporter who never made it onto the big screen, unless you're a ‘Three Men And A Baby’ groupie and of course you can't forget his coochie coo. Without the 'tache he's a dead ringer for George Clooney. Tom Selleck is very comfortable with that, not to mention being macho and gay (who isn't in this film?), which suits him. Screenwriter Paul Rudnick in the mains like a shark on hunger strike. Sex makes no appearance because Frank Oz likes his comedies clean and above board.
I remember when ‘IN & OUT’ came out, no pun intended. There was a lot of fanfare surrounding the film and entertainment critics acted like it was trendy to be “cool” with gay people, even though it was a far less welcoming world compared to today. Paramount Pictures has brought this totally a brilliant classic comedy out on this Blu-ray release and starring Kevin Kline as the Midwestern school teacher, Howard Brackett, who is outted by a former-student-turned movie star. Even though Howard Brackett is about to get married to fellow teacher, Emily Montgomery, Howard Brackett begins to really question his sexuality, especially since he didn’t even know he was “in.”
In ‘IN & OUT,’ screenwriter Paul Rudnick cooks up a solid script that's both wildly funny and gently satirical. It takes on a potentially explosive topic, the business of "coming out" of a gay man in a small town and lightens it up by looking at preconceived notions about homosexuality and turning them upside down. Most of the stereotypical humour winds up directed right back at the clueless straight characters, and so the film winds up happily poking fun at everyone and especially with the audience comfortably in on the joke.
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 very well played by Kevin Kline who puts in quite a strong performance.
I also really liked Tom Selleck here and the two main character actors are great together. However, the film so clearly tried to stay away from portraying any real sexuality and an intimate relationship that slightly bothered me. These two actors could have been a really fun couple, but we ended up with them just sharing one kiss and that sadly is pretty much it.
But one scene in the film I really liked and had a good laugh about was when Howard Brackett is desperate to find out if he is straight or gay, and unwraps his small brown parcel and reveals he has this manual entitled “BE A MAN” – EXPLORING YOUR MASCULINITY and puts in an instruction tape cassette entitled “Be A Man” that is voiced by the smooth talking John Cunningham who asks Howard Brackett several questions to find out if he is a real man and from time to time the smooth talking John Cunningham actually talks to Kevin Kline and then the fun begins, because the smooth talking John Cunningham talks about manly dancing, but suddenly on comes the gay anthem disco song “I Will Survive” [Disco Remix] sung by Diana Ross and of course Howard Brackett goes into full gay disco dancing mode and it is totally hilarious and when the tape cassette stops, Howard Brackett finally realises something he has denied for over three years engaged to Joan Cusack that deep down he really has all along been gay and Kevin Kline really pulls it off and I have to admit he is a great mover and it is a totally brilliant moment in the film.
One other scene in the film that was very poignant and a definite homage to the film ‘SPARTACUS’ where they are having the graduation day with all the students and their parents and Kevin Kline is on the stage, because another teacher gets awarded the shield of being the “Best Teacher” of that year, which originally was going to be Howard Brackett, but because he was outted was deliberately denied the honour and suddenly Cameron Drake appears and shames the Board of Directors for denying the award to him and then people start standing up and with the males they start saying they are gay and the females stand up and start saying they are lesbian and then everyone stands up says they are gay or lesbian and Cameron Drake brings out of his bag he is carrying and reveals his Oscar and feels Howard Brackett deserves it as the “Best Teacher” and everyone cheers and it is a great emotional scene in the film and by the end of the film everything is a great triumph especially for Howard Brackett in that the whole community has welcomed Howard Brackett back into their hearts and couldn’t care less that he is 100% gay.
Matt Dillon is very likable as Cameron Drake, and the whole Academy Awards setup was really excellent and a whole lot of fun. Those scenes at the Oscars were clearly the funniest aspect of the film. But I have to say that I did not care for Joan Cusack’s whose character I find her far too annoyingly over-the-top, clichéd and taking too much screen time from everyone else to be honest. Someone in the editing room was obviously stopped from deleting wads of scenes with this silly annoying actress’s performances in the film.
By the way, watch right to the very end when Howard Brackett’s parents renew their marriage vows and especially with the wedding celebrations afterwards where everyone is totally free of being upright and they all get up and dance to the music of “Macho Man” by The Village people and you see some joyous and enthusiastic dancing and at the same time it is quite an emotional scene at the end of the film and it even makes you want to get up and dance with them all.
One other poignant aspect of the film, is right at the very end of the end credits they dedicate the film ‘IN & OUT’ to Frankie J. Maher 1974 – 1996 and after a bit of detective work I found out that Frankie J. Maher was born on the 18th June, 1929 in London, England as Francis James Maher. Frankie J. Maher is known for his work on the British TV Series “The Champions” [1968], the British TV Series “Department S” [1969], and the British TV Series “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)” [1969] and was retitled “My Partner the Ghost” for the TV series shown in America. Frankie J. Maher was married to Marion Hurlstone-jones, Anne Maher and Dilys Laye. Frankie J. Maher died on the 13th July, 2007 in Newport, Isle of Wight, England.
IN & OUT MUSIC TRACK LIST
EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES (Written by Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne) [Performed by Ethel Merman]
WITH ONE LOOK (Written by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, Christopher Hampton and with contributions by Amy Powers)
BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND (Written by Bob Dylan)
CLOSE TO PERFECT (Written by John Yingst and Jan Peterson) [Performed by Scott Eversoll and John Yingst]
THE NAME GAME (Written by Lincoln Chase and Shirley Ellis)
I WILL SURVIVE (Disco Remix) (Written by Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren) [Performed by Diana Ross]
JAVA HEADED WOMAN (Written by Dale Peterson) [Performed by The Rhythm Lords]
CRAZY (Written by Willie Nelson) [Performed by Patsy Cline]
HAIL TO THEE O GREENLEAF HIGH (Traditional Music) (Lyrics by Paul Rudnick and Marc Shaiman) (Arranged by Marc Shaiman)
PEOPLE (Written by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne)
The Wedding March from "Lohengrin" (1850) (Written by Richard Wagner) [Played at the wedding]
MACHO MAN (Written by Henri Belolo, Jacques Morali, Victor Willis and Peter Whitehead) [Performed by The Village People]
I WILL SURVIVE (Disco Remix) [Reprise] (Written by Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren) [Performed by Diana Ross]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Paramount Pictures presents the film ‘IN & OUT’ with an outstanding awesome 1080p image and is equally enhanced with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The film has very striking detailed and consistent image. Much of the film takes place during bright summer days, and captures the essence of the setting with tremendous amount of detail. Facial features and other textures give a very natural look throughout the film. Colours are consistently vivid, and manage to capture the landscapes of the different locations of Greenleaf extremely well. Contrast remains incredibly high throughout the film producing full-bodied black levels and whites that never look overblown. All in all, this is a fantastic looking Blu-ray disc which gives you a really joyous experience and really enhances the look of the film.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Paramount Pictures brings us the film ‘IN & OUT’ with one exceptional 5.1 Dolby TrueHD experience so giving the mix so making sure the dialogue that is clean and very easily heard which it does with great ease here. The sound is primarily loaded through the front speakers despite being in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. There's little that is obvious about the mix, as sounds are generally floating between channels, generating an effortless immersive experience. This is mainly a very quiet film that makes good use of every bit of dialogue and sound effects that are distinct and purposeful, and it certainly goes above and beyond in terms of setting the tone of such a wonderful joyous and heart-warming film and of course means the sound engineers did a really professional job in showing off the perfect audio experience and does not need wiz bang sound effects to enhance the film, the audio experience is totally perfect.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Theatrical Trailer [1997] [1080i] [1.78:1] [2:32] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘IN & OUT.’
Finally, ‘IN & OUT’ embodies that simple Midwestern rural naïve charm within the confines of a friendly and idealistic town setting, where everyone knows everyone. It’s far from mean spirited towards the idea that a homosexual is just as an important member of the community as is a heterosexual, but it does perpetuate stereotypes and ideas of masculinity versus femininity, which would easily come across as offensive in today’s society. Despite these issues, one could view the film as a measuring stick on how far society’s progressed since the film’s release. Staying within the context of protagonists’ story, the film does makes for a very highly entertaining comedy with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, mostly from Kevin Kline, who really carries the film as a stunned teacher coming to terms with whom he really is, even whilst knowing it will lead to heartache for his bride-to-be, played by the always over-the-top silly annoying pointless actress Joan Cusack. Other supporting players round out the cast, including the wonderful Debbie Reynolds and “Mr. Diabetes” himself, Wilford Brimley, as Howard Brackett’s old-fashioned folks; and Matt Dillon as Cameron Drake as the unintentional instigator of all the controversy, and Tom Selleck portrays the enlightened gay reporter Peter Malloy. While the film may not have aged well in some respects, ‘IN & OUT’ is well-intended and does end with a positive message celebrating acceptance on all levels, and how an individual is not defined by his or her sexual orientation. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
