The Birdcage (1996)
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A gay couple who own a drag show cabaret must pretend to be straight when their son invites his fiancée’s Christian conservative family to meet them for dinner. The Birdcage is an American remake of a French film, which is based on the play “La Cage aux Folles”. Upping the ante for our expectations of remakes and adaptations is the involvement of director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Working Girl) and screenwriter Elaine May. Robin Williams headlines as Armand, but he’s not his usual manic self here. Williams plays the ‘straight’ (in a comedy way) man to Nathan Lane’s effeminate, overly dramatic Albert, the nightclub’s main act. When their son Val (Dan Futterman) begs them to tone things down for their future in-laws (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest), they reluctantly agree to do so, redecorating their posh apartment and practicing ‘straight’ mannerisms and behavior to comic effect.
The Birdcage is a winning combination of both situation and character comedy. The climactic dinner hangs over the first two-thirds of the movie like a ticking clock, counting down the minutes to impeding catastrophe. It’s a quintessential comedy of errors sequence that brings down the house, especially when Albert dresses in drag as Val’s mother and succeeds in winning over Hackman’s oblivious senator character to everyone’s shock and surprise.
Leading up to that climax, the ensemble of characters are all revealed through the stress of winding tension. The gay couple are reacting to the stress of losing their son and passing as straight. The highlight of their tribulations is when Armand directs Albert to abandon his naturally swishy walk and emulate the stride of that pinnacle of manliness, John Wayne. Meanwhile Hackman’s senator character is recoiling from a political scandal in which his business partner was just found dead in the bed of an underaged prostitute. Despite being up against Robin Williams, an established comedy star, and Nathan Lane, made a star by this film, Hackman holds his comedic own in The Birdcage, somehow managing to make a right-wing ne’er-do-well likeable enough to care about. Supporting players also shine, particularly Hank Azaria as Armand and Albert’s house keeper and Christine Baranski as Val’s biological mother. Dianne Wiest and Calista Flockhart (as the fiancée) get less comedy gold to mine, but they make the most of it.
The Birdcage also delivers on music and escapism. The nightclub offers the soundtrack an opportunity to pop, especially in the lively bookended numbers of “We Are Family”. The South Beach, Florida, setting is a beautiful one to be in for the duration of a feature film — especially as we soar over the ocean waters in the film’s opening, an uninterrupted shot that seemingly flies directly through the nightclub doors without a single edit. It’s a wonderful way to settle into one of the best ensemble comedies of the ’90s.
Oscar Nomination: Best Art Direction