REVIEWS

"IN & OUT"

I saw the trailer for "In & Out" several times before, and each time, it got big laughs from the audience. I was usually one of them laughing. So when I went into the movie theater today to finally see it, I expected a lotta big laughs. I got some. Not a lot, but some.

The very likable cast includes Kevin Kline as the man who may or may not be gay, Joan Cusack as the cartoony fiancee who lost 75 pounds for Kevin Kline's character, Bob Newhart as the concerned principal, Tom Selleck (in a scene-stealing performance) as the tabloid news reporter, Debbie Reynolds and Wilford Brimley as his parents, and Matt Dillon as the celebrity who "outs" him.

This is a very silly film, and intentionally so. It has a lot of hidden jokes that you'll miss if you don't pay attention and it plays up to stereotypes on gays and supermodels, which is okay by me. I've always felt that ethnic and stereotype jokes are fine as long as they're funny, and in this case, they usually were.

"In & Out" was directed by Frank Oz who made what was, in my opinion, one of the funniest movies of the last ten years, "What About Bob?" He's also directed stinkers like "HouseSitter" and "The Indian in the Cupboard." I figured that this film was his chance to bring himself back to "What About Bob?" status Well, it wasn't AS funny, but it was funny at times. I just wanted to laugh more.

Scale of 1-10: 7