Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

powermandan As a huge fan of Kevin Kline and the others in this movie, I must say that this was below them. It obviously wasn't going to be as great as A Fish Called Wanda or as funny as There's Something About Mary, but geez! This movie is like eating potato chips with no flavour that are overly saturated with salt. I totally love Kevin Kline and he actually does a good job in this. He plays a high school English teacher named Howard Becket who is the most loved teacher in his school. Things seem to be going great for him: he's up for teacher of the year, he's about to finally get married (to Joan Cusack), and his old student Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is the favourite for an Oscar win. Drake's Oscar-winning role is him playing a gay soldier, and when he wins he thanks everybody including his "gay" teacher Howard Becket. So of course, everybody thinks it to be true. Is Howard hiding something? Does Howard not know himself?One thing that stung this movie was its predictability. It became very evident when Howard officially declares himself gay and what gags would come about soon after Drake's speech. But predictable or not, none of the jokes were funny! The only part where I giggled a little bit was at the climax. Other than that, very few times did I even crack a smile.As I said, Kevin Kline is fine. His sheer talent as an actor made the character of Howard Becket somewhat interesting. Howard pulls off some partially gay vibes that are extremely subtle and easy to miss. Only the most talented can do subtle traits at this level. He was perfect. But the lousy script prevented him from pushing it to higher ground. The same years as this saw Kline star in the phenomenal flick The Ice Storm. Watch that and skip this.The supporting cast is good too. Joan Cusack was nominated for an Oscar. If the film was better, she could have won. Tom Selleck was fun in this, but nothing special. Howard's students were good and so was Bob Newhart. Kevin Kline and company couldn't save this, they just made it worth watching until the end. THat's why the rating out of 10 isn't lower.

Joshua Belyeu I saw this film many times in my youth, and at one point actually liked it...until I realized how truly saturated it is with disreputable ideas and tactics.The story revolves around Howard Brackett, a happily-engaged schoolteacher living in the small town of Greenleaf, Indiana. His parents support him, his friends like him, and so do some of his students.But that all changes when former student Cameron Drake, who's since become a famous movie star, dedicates his win at an Oscar ceremony to Howard...labeling him gay in the process. This turns Howard's world upside down, as the local gossips assume Drake's claim must be true. Howard doesn't know what to do, and his attempts to handle the situation fail miserably. This is probably one of the most prominent areas of the film, where the propaganda's on full display...prior to the climax (more on that later).Howard's whole method of presenting himself is mocked by various people; some criticize his choice of clothing, while others condemn his affection for the films of Barbra Streisand. Another method of "research" involves him trying to resist dancing to the song "I Will Survive", an audio recording previously insisting "truly manly men do not dance, for any reason." When Howard gives in, the recording asks, "How did you do...pussy boy?" An openly-gay reporter (played by Tom Selleck, of all people) kisses Howard at a street intersection, supposedly attempting to force some kind of "truth" on the teacher. Howard's so freaked out by this, his only objection is it happened at the intersection. Desperate for answers and less chaos, he goes to a priest...who recommends he have sex with his fiancée before the wedding. No, I'm not making it up - that's in the film. He attempts to do so, only to be reassured by his bride-to-be...then breaks her heart at the ceremony by submitting to the pressure and declaring himself gay.It all culminates when Howard is nominated for Teacher of the Year at his school, but the administration bars him due to fear of a potential scandal. Suddenly, Cameron Drake arrives in the auditorium, asking the staff members if all the chaos is about "the gay thing". Their manner of refusal is clearly depicted with intentional mockery, of anyone who would oppose homosexuality for any reason. To drive the film's whole point home (namely, that "gay is okay" and all who disagree are stupid and/or hateful), Howard's present-day students all declare themselves gay; one even says "If there's something wrong with Mr. Brackett, there's something wrong with me." Howard's own parents soon join in this mocking form of "support", along with the town's fire brigade. The final scene has Howard dancing to the Village People song "Macho Man", while his former fiancée cozes up to Drake.The only reason I gave this film more than one star, is because there's some very brief moments which actually made me laugh. The biggest one is probably a scene between Howard's fiancée and the reporter who kissed him. Its the night of the crashed wedding, and in desperation she propositions him. Informing her he's gay sends her crashing out the door of the bar they're in, to which she screams into the night, "IS EVERYBODY GAY?!" That question could very well have been the film's title; it certainly fits the overall premise.

SnoopyStyle Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) is a popular English teacher and coach in Greenleaf Indiana. His past student Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is a big star up for the academy awards. In his acceptance speech, he dedicates the award for his homosexual soldier performance to his gay teacher Howard. This brings all kinds of entertainment reporters including Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck) and shocks everybody in town including his fiancée Emily (Joan Cusack).This has some funny moments. It's almost killing homosexuality with kindness playing up Howard's inoffensive effeminate traits. The massive news coverage is ridiculously over the top. Its heart is in the right place and so is most of the townfolks. The movie is filled with homosexual clichés and hasn't really aged well. It tries to take on homophobia with such a finger tip light touch. Kevin Kline walks a very fine line. In the end, this is an one joke movie that doesn't quite work anymore.

poj-man Stock script of mistaken identity with the standard twist that the mistaken identity is actually real. This is a sweet sanitized story for those who like Oprah and don't question the realities of a story but just go along for the "chick flick" ride.Kevin Kline is a straight teacher who evidently never has been laid and has never really had any sexual urgings at all. He is a teacher who is old enough to have taught a student who has gone on to a TV career but he is dumb enough not to know whether or not he likes to play dingle dangle dingle with the same sex.He is also a humorously tortured buffoon of an English teacher whose whole approach to be noted as being gay as to run around and say "I'm not gay" without people believing him.In other words, the Kline character either has or has not had a hard on in his life. He either has or has not masturbated. If he has not masturbated he has the bluest balls of any English and why for the sake of everything would I care about this character. If he has masturbated then what gets him off? Fantasies about men or women or both? To accept that this character doesn't know he is wanting to have same sex physical contact is as ludicrous as his parents driving up with a 4 tiered wedding cake sitting in the back seat of the station wagon. There is no box around the cake and the wedding is a couple of days off...yet his folks drive around with the cake laying loose in the back seat of the vehicle where one wrong turn could smudge the icing???? Yep...I see stupid people.