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Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest, Hank Azaria ... see more see more... , Dan Futterman , Calista Flockhart , Christine Baranski , Luis Camacho , Ann Cusack , Stanley de Santis , Lee Delano , Anthony Giaimo , Grant Heslov , Jim Jansen , Scott Kaske , Tim Kelleher , James Lally , Kirby Mitchell , Brian Reddy , Sylvia Short , Kevin Stea , J. Roy Helland , Tom McGowan , Barry Nolan , Herschel Sparber , Marjorie Lovett , Trina McGee-Davis , David Sage , Al Rodrigo , Andres Fuentes , Amy Powell , Mary Major , John Pontrelli , James Hill , Rabbi Robert K. Baruch , Dorothy Constantine , Francesca Cruz , Anthony Richard Gonzalez , Dante Lamar Henderson , Mike Kinsley , James H. Morrison , Ronald Pitts , Steven Porfido , Tony Snow , Luca Tommassini , Madeleine Lee Gilford

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 phe... read more read more...nomenally 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

Flixster Users

75% liked it

96,265 ratings

Critics

77% liked it

43 critics

R, 1 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Mike Nichols

Release Date: March 6, 1996

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DVD Release Date: March 25, 1997

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Stats: 4,370 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,370)

  • murphmann93
    June 23, 2011
    murphmann93
    A pretty funny film. A must see!
  • FrizzDrop
    December 2, 2010
    FrizzDrop
    There have been some exaggerations of the gay lifestyle, but I've never felt they were as in your face as the performances of Lane and Williams in The Birdcage. Equally atrocious was the anti-gay Hackman, and the uber gay Hank Azaria. It felt a bit forced, like an awkward family ... read moregathering.
  • MizturY0da
    September 8, 2010
    MizturY0da
    gay
  • matertenebraum
    August 9, 2010
    matertenebraum
    I love La Cage Aux Falles, this film is good for a remake and I'm disappointed to see that some people can't appreciate the brilliance in this film! Robin Williams is on top form, with 'you're taking your toothbrush to the grave, how Egyptian' brilliantly improvised. Weiss is con... read morevincing in her role, as usual. Hackman is great, as usual, and Nathan Lane is overly feminate, as usual. Wonderfully cast and with a great script, it will please anyone with a sense of humour. I pity anyone who can't enjoy it, for whatever reason- homophobia, lack of intelligence, arrogance, narrow mindedness etc. I'll admit that originals are often better, but that doesn't stop this from being a film to be enjoyed. I recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh, happy watching
  • SirPant
    September 29, 2009
    SirPant
    Not a bad remake but I would recommend the original French film over this.
  • aliceinpunderland
    August 25, 2009
    aliceinpunderland
    A nuanced tackling of issues wrapped in an irreverently hilarious shell. I would've liked Val to redeem himself a little more throughout and not just at the end though.
  • FilmFanatik
    November 2, 2008
    FilmFanatik
    An absolutely brilliant comedy from beginning to end.
  • ceWEBrity
    July 23, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    This is a pretty damn funny movie, but a little dangerous in that it courts all sorts of gay stereotypes without even attempting to break the mold. I think viewers who are LGBT-savvy will probably laugh more at it than with it for its relative ignorance - Nathan Lane plays gay so... read more over-the-top that the returns diminish very quickly and the whole thing starts to get sort of awkward.

    My diversity in film teacher made some interesting observations about how safe The Birdcage is for a large portion of the movie-going public. It compartmentalizes the gays and the straights, no homosexual affection is really depicted short of handholding and quick kisses, and it offers up a Guess Who's Coming to Dinner-style ending where the relief of tensions seems superficial at best. Not much is learned here by either party. And the son is a real douche.

    Anyway, I guess this is a funny comedy if you can bring yourself to look at this one tiny, often-lampooned aspect of gay life for an hour and a half.
  • Chiefilms
    March 4, 2008
    Chiefilms
    Robin Williams and Nathan Lane not acting??
  • ajaymuthecooldevils
    September 15, 2007
    ajaymuthecooldevils
    A really entertaining movie!!! Robbie Williams and Nathan Lane plays a great gay couple.... They make me always want to laugh when I saw their act... No wonder this movie is very success...

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Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum
May 29, 2011
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. Full Review

Hal Hinson
May 27, 2011
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 famil... Full Review

Todd McCarthy
March 26, 2009
Todd McCarthy, Variety

The Birdcage is a scream. Full Review

Edward Guthmann
June 18, 2002
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

A glossy miscalculation with Nathan Lane and Robin Williams. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Basically, the movie's an extended setup for a dinner-table comedy of errors, in which the mismatched relatives confront one another in a nerve-racking test of appearances. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

One of those rare motion pictures with side-splitting laughs where the humor never stays dormant for long. Full Review

Susan Wloszczyna
January 1, 2000
Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today

Far less plastic than most cross-dressing comedies.

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What makes Mike Nichols' version more than just a retread is good casting in the key roles, and a wicked screenplay by Elaine May, who keeps the original story but adds little zingers here and there. Full Review

Janet Maslin
January 1, 2000
Janet Maslin, New York Times

An American remake with plenty of new pizazz. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
March 6, 1996
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

The beauty of The Birdcage is that its jokes and its message are one and the same. These characters couldn't change themselves if they tried. And only a fool would want them to. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Armand Goldman: I think I need a doctor.
    • Albert Goldman / Starina: Oh, don't be silly. It isn't even swollen.
    • Armand Goldman: Maybe we should go to the emergency room. Y'know I can get it x-rayed.
    • Albert Goldman / Starina: Oh, dear, you're overreacting Don't be such a baby. Just sit down on the-AAAAAAHHHHHH! We've been robbed.
    • Armand Goldman: There's only one place in the world I call home and it's because you're there. So take it. What difference does it make if I say you can stay or you say I can stay? It's ours.
    • Senator Keeley: I don't really drink.
    • Agador: Yeah, well now's the time to pretend.
    • Armand Goldman: So this is Hell... and there's a crucifix here.
    • Armand Goldman: I've never felt such tension. It's like riding a psychotic horse towards a burning stable.
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The Birdcage Trivia

  • Which movie's cast included the following actors: Hank Azaria; Gene Hackman; Nathan Lane  Answer »
  • What movie is this quote from? Armand:What are you giving him drugs for? What the hell are Pirin tablets? Agador: It's aspirin with the "A" and the "S" scraped off. Armand: My God, what a brilliant idea! Agador: I know.  Answer »
  • "You're going to the cemetery with your toothbrush. How Egyptian." Is a quote from which Robin Williams film?   Answer »
  • In which of these movies does a gay couple try to help their son and his fiance' by pretending to be man and wife when the girl's parents come for dinner?  Answer »
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