The Birdcage (1996)
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77% of critics liked it
(43 reviews) -
75% of users liked it
(96,265 ratings)
Director Mike Nichols teams up with his former partner/screenwriter Elaine May for the first time in many years and for the first time together in films to create this sophisticated, remake of the phenomenally popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles that stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane,… More Director Mike Nichols teams up with his former partner/screenwriter Elaine May for the first time in many years and for the first time together in films to create this sophisticated, remake of the phenomenally popular French musical farce La Cage aux Folles that stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Diane Wiest as two dramatically disparate couples who manage to reconcile their vast differences for the sake of their children who are getting married. Williams plays Armand Goldman, the owner of a popular South Beach drag club known for putting on elaborate showcases starring his long-time lover/wife Albert (Lane) who appears as "Starina." Lately poor flamboyant, flighty Albert has been in crisis over the inexorable onset of middle age. He has been moody, paranoid and unbearably. When he gets too inconsolably distraught, handsome but clumsy houseboy Agador quietly slips Albert "Pirin" tablets (which he explains to Armand are simply Aspirin tablets with the "as" scraped off). Still though Albert can be a royal pain, Armand dearly loves him and the two live happily in their splendiferous apartment above the club. One day Armand's son Val (the result of Armand's single foray into straight sex) comes visiting with joyous news: he has found his dreamgirl and is getting married. The only trouble is, Barbara Keeley's father is the blustery ultra-religious right-wing Senator Keeley (Hackman), the founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. Senator Keeley and his colleagues are not as upright as they seem and when his closest associate is found dead beside a black, underage prostitute, Keeley finds his house surrounded by ravenous newshounds, hungry for dirt. Knowing that they are poised to ruin him, Keeley and his proper but slightly addled-wife (Wiest) decide that a big, elaborate, church wedding will be just the ticket to save his reputation. Barbara has neglected to tell them that Val's parents are gay, preferring to claim that they are members of the South Beach social elite. In a panic, she panics and calls Val who breaks the bad news to Armand and begs him to make the apartment less flamboyant and worst of all to hide Albert (who functioned as Val's mother while the youth grew up) during the visit. Armand is angry, but loving his son, finally, reluctantly agrees, knowing that he will deeply wound his companion. Unfortunately, Albert finds out and as a compromise tries to learn how to be macho so he can pretend to be Val's uncle, he is too much the Great Dame to ever pass as one of the guys and so is banned from the party. Armand then locates Catherine and asks her to masquerade as his wife. She agrees to show up later that evening. Meanwhile their friends busily redecorate the apartment until it looks as if it were done in "Early Inquisition." During the fateful dinner party, Catherine is late and Albert gets uproarious revenge. Achingly comic chaos ensues as Armand tries to hold the increasingly tenuous evening together while outside the newshounds bay and threaten to make even more trouble for Senator Keely. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Mike Nichols
- Written By
- Elaine May
- Genres
- Gay & Lesbian, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Mar 6, 1996 Wide
- Studio
- MGM Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
This isn't the supreme masterpiece it might have been, but Nichols's direction is very polished and some of the lines and details are awfully funny.
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Hal Hinson, Washington Post
If The Birdcage isn't exactly the Mike Nichols-Elaine May movie of our dreams, it does manage to transform what was formerly a campy bit of French fluff into one of the loopiest, most hysterical family-values movies ever made.
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Todd McCarthy, Variety
The Birdcage is a scream.
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, Time Out
It doesn't so much champion diversity as celebrate conformity.
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Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
A glossy miscalculation with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Robin Williams
as Armand Goldman
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Gene Hackman
as Senator Keeley
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Nathan Lane
as Albert Goldman / Starina
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Dianne Wiest
as Louise Keeley
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Hank Azaria
as Agador
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Dan Futterman
as Val Goldman
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Calista Flockhart
as Barbara Keeley
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Christine Baranski
as Katharine
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Luis Camacho
as Goldman Girl
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Ann Cusack
as TV Woman in Van
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Stanley de Santis
as TV Man in Van
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Lee Delano
as Bakery Man
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Anthony Giaimo
as Fishmonger
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Grant Heslov
as Photographer
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Jim Jansen
as TV Editor
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Scott Kaske
as Goldman Girl
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Tim Kelleher
as Waiter in Club
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James Lally
as Cyril
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Kirby Mitchell
as Chauffeur
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Brian Reddy
as TV Editor
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Sylvia Short
as Matron
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Kevin Stea
as Goldman Girls
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J. Roy Helland
as Club Hostess
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Tom McGowan
as Harry Radman
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Barry Nolan
as TV Reporter
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Herschel Sparber
as Big Guy in Park
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Marjorie Lovett
as Matron
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Trina McGee-Davis
as Black Girl On TV
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David Sage
as Senator Eli Jackson
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Al Rodrigo
as Latino Man In Club
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Andres Fuentes
as Goldman Girls
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Amy Powell
as TV Reporter
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Mary Major
as TV Reporter
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John Pontrelli
as Waiter In Cafe
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James Hill
as TV Reporter
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Rabbi Robert K. Baruch
as Rabbi
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Dorothy Constantine
as Keeley's Maid
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Francesca Cruz
as Katharine's Secretary
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Anthony Richard Gonzalez
as Goldman Girls
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Dante Lamar Henderson
as Goldman Girls
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Mike Kinsley
as TV Host
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James H. Morrison
as Pastor
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Ronald Pitts
as TV Reporter
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Steven Porfido
as State Trooper
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Tony Snow
as TV Host
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Luca Tommassini
as Celsius
- Madeleine Lee Gilford



