The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 47

AT THE MOVIES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1997 D-11 You're ughs with In Oof THE COURIER-NEWS do for la IN OUT A warm and funny film about a teacher in smalltown Indiana who, on the eve of his wedding, is outed as a gay man. Starring Kevin Kline, Joan Cusack, Tom Selleck, Debbie Reynolds. Directed by Frank Oz. Paramount Pictures. 105 minutes.

Rated PG-13 (profanity, violence). 12 Kline plays Howard with great restraint, yet also knows how to cut loose. He's particularly funny in a scene in which Howard uses instruction tapes to teach him how to appear more masculine. He has a great foil in Joan Cusack's Emily, whose head seems about to explode at the anxiety this revelation adds to the stress of preparing for a wedding. Debbie Reynolds is equally funny as Howard's mother, who is looking forward to the wedding because "I need some beauty, some music and some place cards before I die it's like heroin." "In Out" may seem too glossy to some, too watered-down to others.

But it is consistently and surprisingly funny. By Marshall Fine Gannett News Service pounds to win his attention. But gay? Rudnick's script finds many facets to polish with his idea. For starters, there's Howard's own soul-searching about his sexual orientation and what may, in fact, be years of deep denial. In addition, Howard must cope with the suspicious looks from and awkward silences with people he's known all his life including his mother and father.

And then there's the news media: A full-blown news-media circus descends on tiny Greenleaf, in search of the celebrity gay teacher. But, convinced that he's not gay, Howard has trouble dealing with the attention. That's particularly true of bis encounters with Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), a reporter from an "Entertainment tabloid TV show. question all of his friends' assumptions: about him and about homosexuality. The fellow in question is Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline), the popular English teacher, drama director and track coach at the high school in tiny Greenleaf Ind.

Life is good for the 40-ish Howard; he's about to get married and one of his former students, Cameron (Matt Dillon), is up for an Oscar. But Oscar night goes deliriously wrong for Howard when Cameron wins the Academy Award for playing a gay soldier and then announces on global TV that he wanted to thank a great gay teacher Howard Brackett. Howard, of course, denies that he's gay. Sure, he has something of a Barbra Streisand fetish. Yes, he loves Broadway musicals and his house is perfectly neat and is astid- Come out, come out, wherever you are! How Howard Brack-ett would hate that game.

Howard is the center of "In Out," a wonderfully funny film from a sharp-edged script by Paul Rudnick. It offers the absolutely revolutionary idea that gasp! the best teacher at the local high school might be gay. And double gasp! that's OK. Not only does the teacher come out, but almost everyone is just fine with the idea. If you thought the outing on TV's "Ellen" Emmy Award-winning episode was too radical, well, you probably won't like this movie.

Which is too bad, because "In Out" is actually a mild and warmhearted comedy about accepting the differences between people. As its central character struggles with his sexual identity, he calls into ious in his dress. But gay? Hey, he's engaged to be married. Oh sure, he's never actually had sex with his fiancee, Emily (Joan Cusack), a colleague who lost 75 asteirfful storytelling "TWO VERY BIG THUMBS UP! VERY ENTERTAINING. VERY, VERY GOOD." "LA.

CONFIDENTIAL' is riveting a dangerous and intoxicating tale of big trouble in paradise." "Gangbustersl CONFIDENTIAL' is a shrewd, elegant film with a flawless ensemble cast and style to "A brilliant blend of booze, bribes and broads. A rare and rattling detective story with a cast that deserves to be decorated." Totfxy, NSC-TV) "Steamy, seamy, energetic and Confidential" is like a maze of interlocking passageways, none of which seem to lead to the truth. Yet one eventually does in this ravishing, thrilling tale of police corruption and Hollywood glamour, as filtered through the sensibility of the early 1950s. Recalling the incestuous relationships of "Chinatown," "L.A. Confidential" tells a story in which each of the central characters discovers another, unknown side of himself.

Adapted from James Ellroy's twisted, twisting epic crime novel, "L.A. Confidential" captures the author's mordant view of the world: "Reciprocity is the key to every relationship," someone says, expressing Ellroy's belief that everyone has his price for compromising his beliefs. The script, by Brian Helgeland and director Curtis Hanson, wisely pares down Ellroy's sprawling plot without losing its central tale of vice, revenge and immorality in the Hollywood of the 1950s. They tighten the story, eliminate characters and shift relationships in ways that highlight Ellroy's story without losing his sense of detail. Hanson beautifully captures the milieu, as well as the feeling that General Cinema and The Courier-News present SAT SUN AT 10:30 AM WRY WEEK AT: BRIDGEWATER COMMONS 735-2005 i Monkey Troubl BOX OFFICE ADMISSION $2 ALL SEATS 5 ft Savings with this coupon VwBBTlWSCOU(OltiTTHEBaiOfriCt by the wily Capt.

Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) after the brutality investigation, finds himself involved with one of those prostitutes, a woman named Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger) who looks like Veronica Lake. The Helgeland-Hanson script subtly examines the transmogrification of each of the three central characters. For Exley, the straight-arrow climber, the case will test his sense of morality and boundaries. Smith pooh-poohs him for his reluctance to beat a suspect to get a confession; by the end, Exley has crossed the line Smith draws that separates smart men from direct men and surprises both of them. White, known for his brutish techniques and his abhorrence of men who abuse women, also startles himself with his own honesty and decency.

And Vincennes, who routinely ruins lives and careers with his scandal-mongering arrests, begins to understand the repercussions of the game he's playing. Pearce, an Australian actor last seen here as a flamboyant drag queen in "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," has the rigid bearing of an overachiever with self-doubts. He makes Exley a prig who begins to understand the human necessity of compromise. Crowe, another Australian, has the blunt aspect and bulldog build of a cop for whom the physicality of police work is more interesting than the psychological approach. Spacey steals all of his scenes as the show-biz struck Vincennes, who knows too well how deceiving appearances are.

Spacey is smooth and funny, but also captures the conscience-stricken revelation Vincennes experiences. "L.A. Confidential" glistens like a new car, but has the darkened soul of the best film noir in which good men are tempted by bad ideas. This is one of the year's best films, the thinking person's detective story. By Marshall Fine Gannett News Service "L.A.

CONFIDENTIAL" A dazzling mystery about police corruption in the Hollywood of the 1950s, based on James Ellroy's novel. Starring Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kim Basinger. Directed by Curtis Hanson. Warner Bros. 131 minutes.

Rated (profanity, nudity, graphic violence). most of the words uttered by anyone who knows anything are lies. With his eye for unusual casting, Hanson has fleshed out Ellroy's world in marvelous ways. The story centers on three cops: Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), Bud White (Russell Crowe) and Jack Vin-cennes (Kevin Spacey). Exley, the son of a highly honored cop, is the rising star in the department; Crowe is a bully-boy with a reputation for rough stuff.

And Vincennes is the smoothie, adviser to a TV show who works with a scandal-sheet publisher to bust celebrities for maximum publicity (and kickbacks). Their paths cross initially after a Christmas brawl in the jail, in which several cops (including White) beat up two prisoners accused of shooting a pair of patrolmen. Exley, who was a witness, barters his testimony against fellow cops for a promotion, earning White's enmity. Promoted to homicide detective, White gets the call when there's a massacre at a downtown L.A. diner, the Night Hawk.

Among the dead is an ex-cop; Exley helps lead the charge to round up suspects for the murder. At the same time, Vincennes is involved in a vice case, involving pornography and a prostitution ring (in which the prostitutes iiave all had plastic Surgery so they resem- ble mavislars. AndJVhite, rescued 'LA. CONFIDENTIAL' is Juicy dynamite." -Jzy Carr i MIDDLESEX NATI AMUSEMENTS LOEWS MULTIPLEX NEW BRUNSWICK SAYREVILLE NEW BRUNSWICK 72U3400 REGAL CINEMAS EShadlcy CINEMA 11 RA6-9200 ONEPLEX ODEON ED MENLO PARK MAIL CINEMAS EDISON orctTAL 777-FlLM967 SOUND STARTS TOMORROW I UNION I MORRIS SONY THEATRES AMC MOUNTAINSIDE IO HtADOUASTMS SONY EAST THEATRES HANOVER EAST HANOVER 515-1200 ROCKAWAY TWELVE ROCKAWAY TWP. 32-Oooo MORRtSTOWN 292-0606 CINEMA IO SUCCASUNNA E3 CINEMA 12 PARSIPPANY I SOMERSET r.PMCSAI DhJFUA SBBfclOGEWATEJt COMMONS BRIDGEWA7ER 33S-4U1 I www.newregency corrilaccinfidential V0fi5SS..