Plain Clothes is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Arliss Howard. The film was a box-office bomb, panned by critics and pulled from theatres after a very short and limited release.

Plot

Undercover cop Nick Dunbar's brother Matt is accused of killing his teacher, Mr. Bradwood, at Adlai Stevenson High School. Nick loses his temper with Hechtor, the detective in charge, and gets suspended. Nick's partner Ed pretends to be the (24-year-old) Nick's dad to enroll him as a student. Matt gives Nick pointers to get people to talk to him. Nick deals with bullies, girls with crushes on him, teachers and staff who range from quirky to bizarre, and a teacher, Robin Torrence, to whom he is attracted who thinks he is a teen. The turning point in his popularity (and therefore his ability to get information) happens in the classroom metaphor scene, in which E.E. Cummings' poem she being brand new, is used in its entirety.