Review of The Birdcage (1996) by Matt F — 12 Jul 2012

A remake of the campy French comedy "La Cage aux Folles", Mike Nichols' "The Birdcage" is, simply put, an absolute scream from start to finish. Deft direction, great casting and biting one-liners save this movie from falling under the category of another Hollywood warm-over of revered European material.

The story follows Armand and Albert (Robin Williams and Nathan Lane respectively), lifelong lovers who are preparing to welcome their son Val (Dan Futterman), his fiancee (Claista Flockhart) and her uber-conservative parents (Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest) to a engagement dinner in their apartment, located above the drag club that Armand operates and Albert stars at.

For me, the actors deserve most of the credit here, whose performances make the seemingly "write-them-yourselves" dinner hi-jinx fresh and consistently funny. Williams in particular shows off his range in the second half of the film, where his quieter moments with Lane are the crux of the film's emotional side.

To that end, while Lane and his flamboyant houseboy Agador (Hank Azaria) may strain the typical "gay man" schtick once in a while, there are actually characters underneath the put-on lisps, thankfully, instead of a hollow center.

Nichols keep the proceedings moving along at a nice pace and Elaine May's script is both hysterical and thoughtful. Two big thumbs up for "The Birdcage".