The Birdcage (DVD)

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The Birdcage (DVD)

Overall rating (11): Overall user rating The Birdcage (DVD)

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More than just funny

5 Dec 5th, 2000

Advantages:
well written, well acted, well directed .  Superb .

Disadvantages:
A wasted opportunity for a kicking disco soundtrack

Recommendable: Yes 

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dogscoff

About me: Bar-room connaisseur and still a student at heart (broke, that is) I now work for an engineering fir...

Member since:17.07.2000

Reviews:56

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Review rated by 2 Ciao members on average: very helpful

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. 

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Manx

Manx

05.12.2000 14:46

Thanks for another great review. It seems to be pretty hard to review a film without giving too much away or saying too little, you seem to have done a fair job walking that tricky line.

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