Good old fashioned Drag
 Jul 13th, 2000
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Hilarious
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Yes
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  Tazz
About me:
Wwwwaaaasssssuuuuppppp
I'm in a band called Rage Against The Bizkit doing covers of Limp Bizkit and...
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:41
Review rated by 1 Ciao members on average: helpful 
Recent remakes prove such efforts are usually a big waste of money. Think of Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita and then John Badham's Point Of No Return. Fortunately Jane Fonda's hope of 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" agenda. May reunites with her old 1950's comedy team partner, Mike Nichols, who has hit a bit of a career impasse lately. Wolf was an interesting failure and 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 filmic.
It hardly hurts that Nichols has cast Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Robin Williams, Dianne Wiest and Christine Baranski to flesh out his players list. He can't be graced with a better duo to play the gay couple, Armand and Albert, who own the South Beach, Florida nightclub, The Birdcage. Robin Williams tones down as the more butch Albert while Nathan Lane lilts heavenward as the drag queen star attraction of The Birdcage. This twenty year committed couple must suddenly deal with the impending marriage of Armand's son, Val, who was conceived in a single night of passion with Val's birth mother, played by the irrepressible Christine Baranski. The trouble is, Val is in love with Barbara Keeney, the daughter of the right-wing Senator Keeney (Gene Hackman), who is plopped in the middle of scandal and who is up for re-election. Keeney's re-written morality ticket makes Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan look like left-wing radical anarchists. The Birdcage mirrors La Cage Aux Folles down to the letter though it has been re-scripted to contemporize its political timeliness. When we think of the French film, it is with a musty fondness and it feels old in tone, verging on the ornate. While The Birdcage is fresh it is only because it addresses issues that are upcoming in the presidential election. It, too, may very well feel as dated as Tennessee Williams' overripe histrionics in a few years.
But the film makes no bones about the fact that sentiment is its reality and the lifestyles of the characters, while humorously portrayed, are still nigglingly old-fashioned. Gene Hackman is wonderful as the uptight Senator trapped in election hell when the candidate whose coat tail he is riding is caught in a sex scandal. His insensible and meandering reminscences are wildly funny. Nathan Lane is terrific as Albert, the queen with a sweet center and soft heart, whose feelings are often hurt but whose intentions are wonderfully good. We believe Albert would do anything for his beloved stepson, even if it includes becoming Val's "mother" for the night to placate his in-laws to be. What exemplifies The Birdcage is in its outrageously posed play of opposites, the film ekes out a liberal message. It sneaks up on the viewer and makes a more potent imprint than might be expected. While we're busy watching musical numbers and flashy costumes and the wonder of Nathan Lane cocooning into full-blown womanhood, there is a lovely left-wing broth brewing at bay under the surface conservatism. The result is a dichotomy of cinematic clashes that enhance the chaos at play: old-fashioned versus modern sensibilities juxtaposed against left versus right wing ethics. The Birdcage is a surprise of a good time that overcomes the curse of
the remake plague. That the movie manages a powerful jab or two under its limp-wristed veneer is simply a big plus.
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