Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) is a high school teacher in a small town in Indiana with a good job, an attractive fiancé named Emily Montgomery (Joan Cusack) and respect from everyone. Everything changes one night when a former high school student of his named Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), now a famous actor in Hollywood, makes an acceptance speech after receiving an Oscar for his portrayal of a gay army soldier and 'outs' Howard Brackett as his inspiration for the role. A media circus begins as Howard desperately tries to keep his life from falling apart by protesting that he is not gay and that the whole thing with Cameron's speech is a simple misunderstanding. While most of the townspeople want to believe Howard, Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck), an openly gay TV reporter who arrives in town to cover the story, suspects that the teacher is in denial. Howard is fired, but attends the graduation ceremony to support his students. When the students learn that he was dismissed for being gay, they proclaim themselves to be gay themselves to show their support for Howard. His family follows suit, as do his friends, and all the townsfolk assembled.
This romantic comedy was inspired by Tom Hanks's speech when he accepted his 1994 Oscar for his role in "Philadelphia", and 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"--unaware that Farnsworth was still in the closet. This is one of Hollywood's few attempts at a gay comedy, and was notorious at the time for a 10-second kiss between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck. The film ends with everyone dancing to the Village People's song "Macho Man". Marc Shaiman composed the incidental music, Paul Rudnick wrote the screenplay, and Frank Oz directed.
