Sat in the audience at the DGA theater Sunday before a series of bizarre short films was screened (I shoulda gone to brunch instead...but I digress!). Some guys were grumbling about how Ed Burns, the straight movie star married to Christy Turlington, was showing up later that night to screen his new movie "The Groomsmen" about a group of guys, lifelong friends, who reunite for the wedding of Burns' character to his pregnant girlfriend (Brittany Murphy).

Turns out one of the guys, who left town without a word 8 years earlier, is gay and never told anybody. Portrayed by John Leguiizamo, he comes out to each buddy in the days leading up to the nuptuals. "One character being gay doesn't make it a gay movie," one of the outfesters said, and he said it kinda bitchy too.

But it all turned out good.

The movie played to a capacity audience that laughed a lot and shed a few tears and applauded wildly throughout the credits. Then the very tall Mr. Burns, who took a 5 a.m. flight from New York, took the stage for a lengthy Q & A. I was struck by how touching the coming out scenes because they reminded me of coming out to my straight college friends when I was in my late 20s. Some were surprised, some weren't, and we all have stayed close. And this is how it was in the movie with Jay Mohr's character especially touching and honest: "You didn't talk to me for eight years because you're gay? Why didn't you gamble on me man?" And later, a guilt-ridden Mohr says to another friend: 'He's a gay! My best friend's a gay guy and I was making gay jokes."

I wondered how Burns got it exactly right. He said: "I started to ask some of my gay friends, 'How did it go down when you talked to your family and friends?' It was based on their experiences."

The movie was shot in 21 days with a budget of $3 million, funding that came through after Burns got Brittany Murphy attatched to the movie which was stalled despite a cast that already included Burns, Mohr, Matthew Lillard and Leguizamo. It will get a limited release in New York and Los Angeles and based on how well it does, will expand into more markets. I hope it is a big success.