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Word: comical (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
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Usage:

...disprove the stereotypes but to make light of them and show that hey, they're no big deal; the whole point is that none of this should be such a big deal, but is made to be. There's no edge, no grit: it's the sanitized, homogenized Hollywood comic vision of a Greenleaf, Indiana, learning to accept gays, if not to be perfectly politically correct about them. "In & Out" isn't particularly subtle or inventive, but it's shrewd enough to be a comedy about homosexuality that won't make most heterosexuals uncomfortable...

Author: By Lynn Y. Lee, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER | Title: A Small Town's Homophobia | 9/19/1997 | See Source »

Inspired by Tom Hanks' teary-eyed tribute to a gay high school drama teacher upon receiving the Best Actor Oscar for "Philadelphia," "In & Out" explores the comic potential of the impact of such an event on small-town America-in this case, the "great BIG small town" of Greenleaf, Indiana. The twist is that the teacher in question, Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) refuses to admit he's gay, and what's more, is virtually on the eve of his marriage to a fellow schoolteacher (Joan Cusack). Nonetheless, despite his protestations, he's immediately confronted with throngs of reporters and townsfolk...

Author: By Lynn Y. Lee, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER | Title: A Small Town's Homophobia | 9/19/1997 | See Source »

...rest of the principal cast is chock-full of top-notch comic actors who unfortunately aren't given enough room to expand beyond the realm of the obvious. Cusack's fans will likely enjoy her turn as the ugly-duckling fiancee badly in need of a self-esteem booster (which of course she gets, this being movie comedy land). Debbie Reynolds plays a blander kind of "Mother" more reminiscent of the comic strip "Cathy" than her recent foray with Albert Brooks. Bob Newhart, as the high school principal, manages to keep a completely deadpan expression throughout the entire movie, almost...

Author: By Lynn Y. Lee, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER | Title: A Small Town's Homophobia | 9/19/1997 | See Source »

...synthesizer set on bouncy autoplay, monotone Swed-glish vocals, bare-bones lyrics of dubious syntax-this is the medicine that sweet Doktor Kosmos dispenses. Of course, you'd never actually want to listen to most of it for any length of time, but it's a cute, often masterfully comic item nonetheless...

Author: By Nicolas R. Rapold, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER | Title: Bouncy, Cute Casiotones | 9/19/1997 | See Source »

...Doktor's comic genius may be what really routs your brain. "Yes it is many times you doubt on the human" takes the background music from a televised real estate catalog and plays a sample of fiendishly incomprehensible speech with Jamaican-English rhythms. You'll spend hours trying to decipher it and may, in fact, go insane. ("Sweet love for my nation?" Perhaps...

Author: By Nicolas R. Rapold, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER | Title: Bouncy, Cute Casiotones | 9/19/1997 | See Source »

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