Movie Review : The Birdcage

[This Was Supposed To Be Up Yesterday, But SOMEONE Just Couldn't Wait To - Anyway, Here It Is]

The Birdcage, is a 1996 comedy film, directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Postcards From The Edge) starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane and Gene Hackman, among other notables. I'm sure most of you must have heard of the film's premise, if not seen it, but I'm going to put it down anyway.

Set in South Beach, Florida (which I gather is the Thong capital of America), the film is a remake of the french play La Cage aux Folles (1973) by Jean Poiret, which was essentially the same, except set in France, where it was cool for Gay couples to raise children in 1973 (Damned Libertines!). Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) is the owner of The Birdcage, a Gay Club that features his lover Albert (Nathan Lane) as the Star Drag performer. Val (Dan Futterman), their son (the result of a heterosexual liaison during Armand's younger years in Musical Theater) is engaged to be married to Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart), who happens to be the daughter of conservative politician Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman), who happens to be the co-founder of the 'Coalition For Moral Order'; you can probably tell what's coming.
A dinner is planned, things are unsaid, and phone calls are made. The other founder of the Coalition For Moral Order is found dead in bed with an underage black hooker, the Keeleys are told the Goldmans are, well, the Colemans, who are not jewish and are a 'respectable' upper class straight family (Armand Coleman is the cultural attache to Greece). As the Keeleys escape the paparazzi, Val convinces Armand to play along, but Albert is simply too gay, and just has to go. Hurt (and Nathan Lane does a good Hurt) he agrees, but not before running a 'Val's Uncle Al Who's Visiting' idea past the two (which they said would be even more obvious). Armand gets Val's biological mother Katherine (Christine Baranski) to pose as Val's real mother (who is Albert, actually) for the evening, while Val supervises moving out all their gay art, for more butch stuff.
The Keeleys arrive, Katherine is stuck in traffic, and Albert is really hurt (and Nathan Lane does a really good really hurt) and has locked himself in the bathroom, and Agado their 'Maid' (Hank Azaria) has trouble wearing shoes. As the evening progresses, and Katherine hasn't shown up, Albert emerges, in full drag as Mother Coleman, Val's middle-aged mother.

I'm sure I won't have to spell out what happens next, but there's drinking, dirty china and two Mrs. Coleman' involved; some classic comedy-of-errors situation comedy, some excellent improvisations by the cast (in one scene in the kitchen, you can tell Robin Williams is stifling a laugh), and some witty dialogue take the film home for a pretty good finale - The Keeleys escaping through the backdoor of the club as part of the Drag Revue with We Are Family in the background (The DVD extras supposedly contains clips of Gene Hackman in drag making out with a guy). The Keeleys escape, and Val and Barbara get married in the last scene.

The film features some excellent acting and direction, suitable for a 'heartwarming' comedy, and has been successfully adapted from the theatre, although you can still tell it has been. Nathan Lane is excellent as always (well, mostly always), and Robin Williams (who turned down Albert for Armand, because he had been playing flamboyant characters for too long) plays a good straight man. Gene Hackman in drag is adorable, but not as much as Mrs. Keeley (Dianne Wiest) in drag as a leather Elizabeth Taylor. Worth the watch, and possibly the DVD (if only to see Gene Hackman make out with a guy.)