The Birdcage (1996)

Please Leave A Comment Below

The Birdcage (1996)

7/10

Staring

Robin Williams

Gene Hackman

Nathan Lane

Directed by Mike Nichols

I have never seen The Birdgcage before, so you can imagine the shock I had with the cast. I thought, “What a weird combo.”

Robin Williams and Gene Hackman in a comedy movie about drag queens. What I was curious on seeing was Gene Hackman all dressed up like a woman and performing.

I don’t want to drop a spoiler here, but we didn’t get the privilege view of all that, but what we did get is a perfect dramedy. This movie has the cast you’d love, in a perfect blend that you will wish will never end.

This wonderful movie is a remake of a 1978 Italian film called La Cage aux Folles, this American version is highly rated and if I may say so, it is one of the best Robin Williams movie out there. The masterful performance of Williams and Hackman, puts them above the rest in this movie, for lack of better words: “they owned this flick.”

The movie also addressed the issue of pretend to be somebody else just to make others feel comfortable. It is something common in our society and is not the way to go. Like Williams learned, you can only put up the show so far, after a while the mask will come off and everyone will see who you really are. The best thing is, be yourself.

The movie tells a story of a gay couple, Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) who have a son, Val (the story of how the son came to be is one you will find out as you watch). Val is getting married and he and his future wife Barbara (Calista Flockhart) lied to her parents about what Armand does and didn’t even bring up his sexuality. Val then tells his biological father (Robin Williams) not to bring his partner Albert along to the intro of both parents.

Val went further, in other to solidify his lie and his avoidance of the truth, he made Armand change his whole life style and pretend to be straight to impress his future wife’s father (Gene Hackman). As you can guess things didn’t go according to plan.

Other than getting a nomination in the AFI’s 100 Years...100 Laughs, this movie was also a commercial success. Unlike the overrated commercial successes, this movie was worth every penny and more that it made.

This is not just a classic to see, it is a classic to buy and keep.