THE BIRDCAGE - 1996
Directed by Mike Nichols
Starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Dan Futterman, Dianne Wiest, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, Christine Baranski, Tom McGowan, Grant Heslov, and Gene Hackman
Genre: Family Comedy Farce (Audio clip)
COULD this be the funniest movie Robin Williams starred in? I think so...with Good Morning Vietnam not far behind though that doesn't completely qualify as a full-on comedy. It's certainly up there among his comedic performances - as Armand, he's REALLY walking a tightrope between underplaying and reacting. And he's got great company...
Nathan Lane kills it too as Albert, especially during the nutso extended dinner party sequence which closes out the last 40 or so minutes. He's often drifting into '90's cross-dressing stereotypes but he's still doing with it with depth and a lot of heart, BESIDES being hysterically funny for most of his performance. :)
You've got Hank Azaria hamming it up to gleeful effect as the flamboyant Agador the live-in "house man", a young-ish Calista Flockhart (three years before Ally McBeal) who is very endearing as the fiance in question Barbara, a nice little acid turn from Christine Baranski as the biological mother Katherine (her scene alone with Williams is charming but kinda weird in context), and bringing the heat.....HACKMAN as uber-conservative Senator Keely and Dianne Weist as his sharp wife Louise. They're Barbara's parents and both actors are just a genuine hoot to watch, riffing on all of the Gingrich-Republican Revolution-era talking points....while still effectively humanizing these characters as insecure parents. :)
One of the best aspects of Elaine May's script (adapted from the celebrated French play and movie "La Cage Aux Folles") is while there is plenty of dishing on politics, it never loses its playful tone even with some looney whoppers of dialogue like the following which Lane's Albert delivers with a sing-song voice while in drag:
"Oh, I know what you're going to say. 'If you kill the mother, the fetus dies, too.' But the fetus is going to be aborted anyway, so why not let it go down with the ship?"
It's kinda crazy how the movie is able to milk so many laughs out of any number of hot button subjects at the time (or still today if we're being honest) like homophobia, abortion, anti-Semitism, racism, those raucous Kennedy's, and even the Bushes...."the JEB Bushes of Florida." (As we hear them described by Weist's Louise at one point) I DO have significant issues with one particular character who is quite the sourpuss but I’ll get to HIM in just a bit….
That said, this character’s sourness really doesn't sink the movie as the overall charade itself results in generally hysterical farce carried through with excellent physical comedy from the rest of the cast, especially Williams, Azaria, and Lane! For a two hour comedy, this thing just FLIES as the legendary Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Catch 22, Working Girl) does an adept job of keeping the gags coming while never losing sight of characters or overall story. With strong assists from three-time Oscar winning DP Emanuel Lubezki (Gravity, The Revenant) and four-time Oscar nominee production designer Bo Welch (Batman Returns, The Lost Boys), Nichols presents us with a fun, candy-colored Miami Beach setting which is where most of the story takes place. Obviously with Nichols, May, and the rest of this crew, this movie had ONE hell of a pedigree for a mid-budget studio comedy and it shows!
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
If we are talking over-played pop needle-drops – not only within pop culture but likely every wedding and/or bar/batmitzvah you attended since 1980…..they don’t really get any bigger than the 1979 disco smash from Sister Sledge, “We Are Family.” SO many films have featured this song you have no idea…. (Audio clip)
But at the very least when it comes to THIS movie, we are treated to a fun, even more fast-paced cover version book-ending the movie and it IS a genuinely sweet note to end the story on….being performed diegetically for the final closing drag dance number and then taking us into the closing credits over footage of the wedding. It’s a nice cover and even nice, it’s actually performed by local musical performers featured in the movie – nice voices all – Bobbi Page, Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, and Yvonne Williams. What was the name of this group? Fittingly…..for this movie….they were called “The Goldman Girls.” (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
As excellent as this film is, Now the film's ONE major weakness is actually Albert and Armand's son Val. :/ He and Barbara make a very handsome couple but as portrayed by Dan Futterman (whose career would eventually shift more into screenwriting - he would receive two Oscar noms for writing Capote and Foxcatcher), he just feels like he's out of a different movie....a more mean-spirited movie. It's obvious how much affection his two fathers have for him but he's just playing so many notes all wrong, too clipped and serious....where it almost feels at points that he's being unnecessarily cruel to his parents while demanding they pull off this charade to fool the visiting Keeley's into believing they are a "normal" couple. (Audio clip)
Even though it’s very likely that Futterman was simply delivering what was on the page, his take on this character is just severe to the point of distraction, I mean there are some moments early on when he is just being SO unnecessarily dickish to his fathers….or their friends for that matter….I just wanted to smack this ungrateful brat….and I feel that Armand or Albert would have been perfectly justified in doing so….sorry. I mean this was the mid ‘90’s and you just had YOUR pick of promising young white actors at just the right age who could pulled off this character with more subtlety…..you know the more I think about it, then 26-year old Paul Rudd would have been PERFECT as Val, this was just a year after his breakout in Clueless. (Audio clip)
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
I’m tempted to just choose the entire dinner sequence which takes up most of the final third of the movie but that would just be casting too wide of a net….SO many highlights, especially as it dawns on our hosts that they really don’t have an entrée to serve. (Audio clip)
Actually it’s the very lead-up to said dinner which for me pr0vide the biggest highlights. Seeing the Coleman’s/Goldman’s meet the Keeley’s for the first time is just COMEDY GOLD….even though it feels strangely real for the most part, EVERYBODY (well almost everybody) is killing it especially the four main grown-up leads. And it’s actually an introduction broken up to into two parts….
Part One is when the Keeley’s first arrive and are introduced to Armand….kicking off LITERALLY with some fun physical comedy from Azaria and continuing with some awkwardly forced grimacing from Williams’ also leading to one of THE best non-sequiturs in the movie…. (Audio clip)
"You have a very forceful handshake, Mr. Coleman.""Well you have to....in Greece."
Even better is Part Two just a couple of scenes later when the Keeley’s FINALLY meet Albert….in drag playing Val’s mother….to every one’s surprise except Albert of course. Not only is Williams’ KILLING it with is crazed facial expressions of horror but from this point on, Lane proceeds to steal the remainder of the movie with just a sublime performance highlighted by his explanation of their family name. (Audio clip)
Even Futterman and Flockhart are delivering a few moments in both scenes….this is just pure FARCE with a capital F and everyone comes to play! (Audio clip)
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
Even with some obviously very dated elements, (discussions of "Pal-imony agreements"), the movie holds up pretty well....even better than I would have expected considering that the online Red Pill peanut gallery would just be LOSING their minds if it were to be released today. 😆 DEFINITELY one of the more underrated Williams performances and a sad reminder of what a thoughtful talent he was.....and yet this is VERY much a two-fer. Like I said, Nathan Lane pretty much owns the third act of this movie once we see him take the deception further as Val’s buttoned up mother, he’s just a force. And yet….the strongest acting moments from both are the quietest ones. (Audio clip)
What’s important is not only just how entertaining they are together on-screen but that we BUY them as an old….well actually middle-aged married couple. And yeah back in ’96, that was pretty ground-breaking…..an LGBT couple at the center of a big Hollywood movie who stay together through the end, living happily every after. Keep in mind that this was STILL about six months before the release of previous episode Bound no less…..for not only making a bit of pop culture history but delivering major laughs and heart in the process, Robin Williams and Nathan Lane are your CO-MVP’s. (Audio clip)
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
It’s Pride Month 2024 so what better way to CASUALLY celebrate than to kick back and watch LGBTQ classics like this one along with previous episodes like the aforementioned Bound….Milk, Call Me By Your Name, Jeffrey, Bros, Booksmart, and even last year’s hysterical Bottoms! More to come later this month too….and DON’T let ANY one tell you that you can’t let your flag fly….even in Florida.
Streaming on Prime Video, Peacock, Roku, hoopla, Critierion, tubi, plutoTV, & freevee
And that ends another WHERE THERE’S SAND….review!
