“Plainclothes” is a simple but engaging “coming out” tale of the sort we’ve been seeing for decades now. But the performances are understated and spot-on. And writer-director Camen Emmi’s feature debut reels us in through the simple trick of not just telling this timeworn story, but making us come to the movie.

We have to unravel the when and where this version of coming out takes place, who the protagonist is and why this umpteenth version of such a story is worth our time. Music, clothes, beepers, payphones and a mall reveal it’s a ’90s period piece.

We’re forced to decipher the inconsistent timeline, and what’s changed for that now mustached and stubbled protagonist since the scenes where Lucas (Tom Blyth) was a cleanshaven plainclothes cop in suburban New York. In the past, he was dealing with peeper pages from his mother which might concern his ill father. In the present, Dad’s dead, mom (Maria Dizza, quite good) is chainsmoking and her obnoxious brother, his Uncle Paulie (Gabe Fazio, a “type” but spot-on), is showing off his homophobia to the entire family in the way he treats “pansy” Paulie Jr.

Lucas is a young cop who’s heart isn’t really in his work as “bait” at the mall where taxpayer dollars and police crimefighting hours are spent entrapping gay men who’d like a men’s room quickie while shopping.

Their indiscretion will cost them an indecent exposure plea as “exposure” is hung over their heads, since the aged old school lieutenant (John Bedford Lloyd) has a real Jones for hounding “perverts.” He lays out his misguided, outdated reasons as he plays old stakeout film footage for a new recruit to this squad. He’s passed this passion on to his sergeant (Christian Cooke) running the show. But Lucas doesn’t like the work.

Those exchanged moments of eye contact setting the trap have him seriously questioning his sexuality. That’s led to him breaking up with his longtime girlfriend (Amy Forsyth). And they’re part of the reason this one target (Russell Tovey), a few years older, eludes the handcuffs after they’ve met in a stall in that men’s room.

“Have you done this before?”

Emmi’s film can’t help but play as dated and a tad overfamiliar. And as a history lesson about “the way things used to be” it can feel almost quaint. Setting the film after the ravages of AIDS adds to that.

But Blyth and Tovey, as Lucas and a very cautious, more experienced Andrew, subtly remind us that those personal stakes could not have been higher in a closeted era as careers, family and futures are gambled by men grappling with who they really are and how low they must feel, seeking intimacy in a public toilet.

Lucas is new to all this, and infatuated. Andrew might be a “cruising” cliche, but he has his reasons and a compassionate side.

And as this story finds its way past the predictable towards a reckoning that’s both surprising and satisfying, the viewer is invited to ponder the phrase “We’re not going back” anew as we’re reminded of just how far we’ve come.

Rating: R, violence, sex, nudity, profanity

Cast: Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, Maria Dizza, Amy Forsyth, Christian Cooke, and Gabe Fazio

Credits: Scripted and directed by Carmen Emmi. A Magnolia release.

Running time: 1:35