hollywood movie since the 1930s have treat gay a leper . in condemn homosexuality and the film industry have reflect only what the repressive society of it day espouse a an ideology . for example and in the 1962 otto preminger melodrama advise and consent and straight actor don murray be cast a a queer congressman who commit suicide rather than confess his alternative lifestyle . gay movie character have cover a lot of ground since advise and consent . in the 1997 movie in and out and ( half out of ) and heterosexual actor kevin kline be cast a a homosexual teacher who come out of the closet on his wedding day . while the conservative hollywood of yesteryear stipulate that the congressional queer in advise and consent have to commit suicide and the liberal hollywood of today dictate that the gay english teacher should be embrace rather than maced . basically and in and out preaches good citizenship in the garb of a politically correct comedy . director frank oz and scenarist scott rudnick endorse honesty a the best policy because honesty always ensure happiness . high school teacher howard brackett ( kevin kline of the big chill ) will be happy only after he come out of the closet and just a his once fat but now thin fiancée emily ( joan cusack ) will only feel happy when she can ditch her diet . ultimately and the movie contend that straight society will accept gay when homosexual can act with great honesty and candor about themselves . the happily out gay tabloid reporter play by straight actor tom selleck here effectively dramatize this open mind commentary . rudnick lightweight script embellish the true life incident that occur at the oscar when tom hank pay tribute to a high school teacher . in in and out and cameron drake ( matt dillon ) and a blond and brad pitt style bimbo type actor and win the oscar for impersonate a fruity foot soldier . drake honor his mentor howard brackett during his acceptance speech . not contend to stop there and the candid cameron reveals to a live and television audience that howard be gay . suspicion and paranoia and and horror set in a the medium descend upon the sleepy town of green leaf and indiana . ( when would a no name high school english teacher sexual deviance spark such massive medium concern . ) among those reporter lurk peter malloy ( tom selleck of high road to china ) and and he want to do a week long exclusive one on howard . howard and however and want nothing to do with the witch hunt medium and especially the pesky peter malloy . howard denies drake gay charge to everybody and include his fiancée and his mom . malloy lingers because he smell a scoop . the revelation have turn green leaf upside down . high school principal tom halliwell ( bob newhart ) squirm nervously with all the medium coverage . halliwell warn howard that be his marriage not imminent and he would have to give him a pink slip . meanwhile and peter bet howard that his marriage to emily will fall through at the last moment and he will be there to record the result on camera . howard resort to audio tape about macho men . he struggle to reform himself . but howard effort be futile . guilt swell up inside him . and then there be peter malloy and who rag him to come clean about his homosexuality . finally and at the altar in the sight of god and howard burst . of course and bride to be emily montgomery be floor by howard gay confession . predictably and the school fire howard and but he show up for graduation . drake show up and too and and rush to brackett defense . not only have the school strip howard of his job and but they have also give his teacher of the year award to somebody else . drake appeal to the principal and win howard the unanimous support of the community . the big defect in rudnick contrive script be howard himself . rudnick have create a character too chaste to be true and either by gray or straight standard . howard brackett loom a more of a saint than a sinner . he help one student gain admission to college and and he coach the track team . how often do you hear of an english teacher double a a coach and too . everybody at his high school adores howard . he doesn not have a mean bone in his body . further and rudnick and oz ask u to believe that nobody else in green leaf be gay . where be howard gay friend . be they too scar to come to his defense . no and in and out be not target strictly at homosexual audience . oz and whose screen credit include cute comedy like dirty rotten scoundrel and house sitter and as well a rudnick teeter on a politically correct tightrope . in and out be not a gay recruit movie . the filmmaker show no interest in what prompt either howard or peter malloy to prefer the gay lifestyle . instead and oz and rudnick be only interested in shore up a thin premise represent be he or isn not he gay . they flesh it out to involve the community response to the answer . finally and when howard admit that he be gay and the filmmaker devote the rest of the movie to show how a conservative and norman rockwell like town can accept him despite his difference . the most shocking scene in in and out be probably when tabloid reporter malloy do a lip lock on howard . straight guy kiss each other in a movie about a gay identity crisis be as hilarious a they be phony . kline and selleck grind their face together in what appear a more of a head on collision than a closed mouth kiss . nothing at all like the controversial 1994 british movie priest and in and out emerges a an engaging but labor piece of social propaganda with it okay to be act message . if ellen weren not the tv equivalent and in and out would probably be head toward tv a a new sitcom . watching in and out be not so much about deal with the issue of gay or straight and but how to be a decent person in the last day of the 20th century . what make in and out a tolerable comedy about sexual intolerance be it equal opportunity cheer and jeer about queer and steer .