The Closet

Written and directed by Francis Veber (The Dinner Game), this hilariously nutty French comedy is about a miserably-divorced, middle-aged, middle-management sad sack (Daniel Auteuil) who--upon learning he's about to lose his job at a condom company--pretends to be gay, striking his employer with the double fears of a discrimination suit and a key demographic boycott. Suddenly, women in the office want to seduce him, the company petitions him to be on their Gay Pride parade float, his surly teenage son thinks he's cool and the ex-wife he's still in love with wants to figure out what makes him tick. Funniest of all is the obnoxiously macho co-worker (Gérard Depardieu) who now thinks he has to suck up to our hero, to the point where he's giving entirely the wrong impression. Nimbly weaving sincere castigations of homophobia in with the steady parade of gut-busting gags, while also fearlessly joking outside the lines of political correctness, The Closet is a comic gem. Highly recommended. (R. Blackwelder)