... There are plenty of films out there which can make me laugh out loud but not many of them have such good characters or such gentle treatment of sensitive subjects.
Armand and Albert are a gay couple who run a drag club in the heart Florida's gay community. When the son they raised brings ... Read review
Robin Williams delivers his funniest performance since Mrs Doubtfire in this non-stop ... more
hilarious comedy audiences and critics adore. Williams stars as Armand, the outlandish owner of a wild Miami Beach nightclub, whose partner Albert, is also the star a...
The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to ... more
(respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedyLa Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television'sAlly McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus."--Jeff Shannon
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to ... more
(respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedyLa Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television'sAlly McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus."--Jeff Shannon
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to ... more
(respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedyLa Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television'sAlly McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus."--Jeff Shannon
Postage & Packaging:£2.69 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: well written, well acted, well directed. Superb. Disadvantages: A wasted opportunity for a kicking disco soundtrack
...run a drag club in the heart Florida's gay community. When the son they raised brings home the daughter of an ultra-conservative politician as his bride-to-be, they have to decide whether or not to hide their sexuality, and if so, how.
Now it seems clear from the start that there will be plenty of jokes in there at the expense of the gay community, and thre are. Albert shrieks and whoopsies his way through the film, and even the relatively ... ...the stereotype.
Normally I would take offence at a film which takes the micky out of any persecuted minority, but this film pokes fun out of the gay community so gently and affectionately that it is impossible to be offended. More to the point the film demonstrates beautifully (and there are still plenty of ppl who don't yet undrstand this point) that gay people can be good parents, and that their relationships can be just as deep ... more
Yeah, OK, this is a funny film, but that's not all. There are plenty of films out there which can make me laugh out loud but not many of them have such good characters or such gentle treatment of sensitive subjects.
Armand and Albert are a gay couple who run a drag club in the heart Florida's gay community. When the son they raised brings home the daughter of an ultra-conservative politician as his bride-to-be, they have to decide whether or not to hide their sexuality, and if so, how.
Now it seems clear from the start that there will be plenty of jokes in there at the expense of the gay community, and thre are. Albert shrieks and whoopsies his way through the film, and even the relatively butch Armand gets a few laughs for playing up to the stereotype.
Normally I would take offence at a film which takes the micky out of any persecuted minority, but this film pokes fun out of the gay community so gently and affectionately that it is impossible to be offended. More to the point the film demonstrates beautifully (and there are still plenty of ppl who don't yet undrstand this point) that gay people can be good parents, and that their relationships can be just as deep and valid as straight ones.
The actors all do their jobs extremely well, some underplaying their parts to perfection, others overplaying superbly. The responses of the couple to the awkward situation their son has put them in are utterly believable, and although the meal scene at the end has all the makings of a classic farce, it never really resorts to crude or insensitive humour.
The other thing which sticks with me about this film is the ending. It's nice to se a Hollywood film in which the conflicting parties (ie the gay couple and the consrvative couple) come to terms with one another without needing to indulge in Ricky Lake style outpourings, revelations and confrontations.
Altogthr this is a clever and sensitive film which just happens to be really funny. Highly recommended.
Advantages: Sharp witty and intelligent despite being fairly simple Disadvantages: Could be considered to be making fun of gay people
...of manners and switched identities. The story follows gay couple Robin Williams and Nathan Lane when their son (by William’s former girlfriend) announces that he’s getting married, to the daughter of the most homophobic senator in the US. With a meeting of the two families scheduled they try to tone down the whole place and pass themselves off as a straight household. Despite the overtones of humour at homosexual’s expense, this is awesome, and credit ...
pabdesign 03.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Birdcage (DVD)
...Stiller, Almost Live, Kids in the Hall, and The State being cancelled). It was incredibly successful at the box-office for many good reasons. Not nearly as exploitive as I thought it would be. Robin Williams is amazingly restrained throughout, he just lets Nathan Lane take the whole show. Gene Hackman is perfectly cast. A good movie all-round and you should make time to see. ...
...redoing Pedro Almodovar's Woman On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown for American audiences petered out before it began.
Therefore, its with some relief that Mike Nichols' The Birdcage is pretty darn entertaining, Fortunately, with Elaine May's screenplay as a point of departure, the Americanized version of the 1978 French hit, La Cage Aux Folles (which itself spawned two sequels and a Broadway musical), delivers laughs at the expense of a "right" ... ...Regarding Henry and Postcards From The Edge were murky prospects. So, it seems logical that Nichols would draw from his award-winning Working Girl for his good-luck talisman blessing. Indeed, The Birdcage opens with a pan across the water, much like Working Girl. We enter alien waters into a new realm and onto a new shore. But these waters are Southern kitsch not Manhattan chic, though nobody sweats (except Robin Williams) and the humidity is purely ...
Tazz 13.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Birdcage (DVD)
Advantages: The acting of Nathan Lane and Robin Williams. Excellent. Disadvantages: Seems to end a little too soon and abruptly.
The Birdcage was always going to be a success in my eyes, given that Robin Williams plays a prominent role in the movie. His acting ability is something to be savoured and he is no different in this movie. The film is set in South Beach, a place where to be straight is rather unusual but to be gay is very much the norm. Armand (Robin Williams) and his partner Albert (Nathan Lane) own a club called the Birdcage. One day Armand's son comes to visit ... ...a hilariously funny scale. The future in-laws are from a very straight background with the father (Gene Hackman) a Republican senator high on Christian values. It all makes for an extremely funny and fairly exciting climax to the movie. The only downside is that you feel the movie could go on a little further than it actually does. Albert's attempts to get himself into the role of a straight man is nothing short of hysterical and is quite possibly ...
antonio79 08.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Birdcage (DVD)
Advantages: Hilarious! Disadvantages: None at all!
...Chewing gum? Huge crucifixes on the wall? You got it all, and more!
Robin Williams excels himself in this, as do all the actors involved (see a young Ally McBeal for instance!). He is a gay man whose son has just got engaged to a young woman (Ally McBeal!), but her father is the political representative of a political party which is dedicated to upholding moral superiority... i.e. gay men are not included in their friends' lists!
But disaster strikes, ... ...to visit the campest gay men in the world, what on earth will happen?
You will laugh so hard you will cry, and if you are anything like me, then random quotes from the film will cheer you out of any depressive moments!
Hilarious, fun, colourful, and (unusually) better than the original, in my opinion, get it now! ...
purplepippa 12.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Birdcage (DVD)
Val Goldman returns home from college to tell his family that he plans to marry his fiancee Barbara Keeley. Val's gay father realises that he must hide his alternative lifestyle from his future in-laws.
Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
Hearing Impaired Language
English, German
Technical information
Special Features
8 Page Making Of Booklet, Interactive Menu Screens, Chapter Search, Original Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio
1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English French German Italian Spanish
Professional reviews
Review
"Enchantingly funny....The beauty of THE BIRD CAGE is that its jokes and its message are one and the same..." -- Rating: A- (Entertainment Weekly, p.46, 29/03/1996)
"...A nicely restrained Williams lets Nathan Lane as his high-strung diva companion rule the roost in this fluttery, funny [film]..." -- 3 out of 4 stars" (USA Today, p.1D, 08/03/1995)
"...THE BIRDCAGE is a scream....Performed with matchless aplomb and made with plush professionalism....[The film] serves up pure pleasure..." (Variety, 04/03/1996)
DVD Description
In Mike Nichols's hilarious remake of the 1978 French comedy LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, Robin Williams stars as Armand Goldman, a gay cabaret owner who lives in Miami's South Beach with his partner, Albert (Nathan Lane), the club's star performer. Armand and Albert must try in vain to pass as a typical couple when the prospective in-laws of Armand's son, Val (Dan Futterman), come for dinner. While accepting their alternative lifestyle personally, Val demands that they tone it down for his girlfriend's (Calista Flockhart) parents--who happen to be a political couple running on a family values platform. Lane's hilarious attempts to "play it straight" and Hank Azaria's brilliantly flamboyant houseboy, Agador, are the highlights of the film, which also features a beautifully understated Williams as the more "normal" of the pair. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest are delightfully square as the future in-laws.
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