‘Birdcage’ Lets Fly With Hilarious Acting, Funny Plot
I rarely laugh at movies. I chortle, I grin, I chuckle, but full-fledged uncontrollable convulsions seldom escape me in the theater. During “The Birdcage,” I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and tears flowed from my eyes. It’s the funniest film I’ve seen in a long time.
In “The Birdcage,” Robin Williams plays a Floridian gay nightclub owner with an emotional drag queen named Albert (Nathan Lane) for a partner. When Williams’ character, Armand, learns that his 20-year-old son is engaged to the daughter of an ultra-conservative senator (Gene Hackman), he reluctantly agrees to pose as part of a straight couple when the future inlaws come to dinner. But what to do with Albert? And who will pose as Armand’s wife?
These questions play themselves out over the course of the movie, while Albert makes the melodramatic most of any moment. Albert, described by Armand as being “so maternal he’s practically a breast,” views himself as the true mother of Armand’s son, and is hurt by the son’s desire to hide him from the parents of his future bride.
The film remains light-hearted as the conflict develops. Albert (he performs as a drag queen under the same Starina) flits through each scene, with Williams playing the straight man.
This is where the film runs into its only problems. Albert is so theatrical it seems like he doesn’t have genuine emotions. In addition, Armand appears to be too strong of a character to obey the orders of his whiny son.
It doesn’t make sense that he would completely deny his life style (and his Jewishness) so easily. “The Birdcage” toys with pretty serious feelings but fails to offer valid explanations where they’re involved.
However, the climactic dinner scene more than make up for the movie’s flaws. The senator is by now plagued by a scandal and is being hounded by the press. He and his wife (Dianne Wiest) are under the impression that Armand is a cultural attache to Greece.
As Armand’s hilarious maid, a pseudo-Guatemalan drag-queen wannabe, Hank Azaria tries to fill the shoes of a sophisticated butler, Albert dons a wig to pose as Armand’s wife. With his tendency to go over the top, Albert ends up impressing the senator with impassioned speeches about the merits of school prayer and abortion. Of course, nothing goes as planned and chaos takes over.
Nathan Lane’s performance really makes “The Birdcage” the sidesplitting extravaganza that it is. Despite the fact that Robin Williams is uncharacteristically subdued, “The Birdcage” is undeniably fun. Gene Hackman is also great as a politician who describes Billy Graham as “too liberal.” The movie never made his character into a one-dimensional bad guy; a lesser film might have.
It’s sometimes easy to judge a movie by watching people exit the theater when it’s over. Most left “The Birdcage” with smiles on their faces, and a few were dancing down the aisle. “The Birdcage” is infectious and fun.
Grade: A