The Birdcage(1996)

Name: The Birdcage
Director: Mike Nichols
Genre: Comedy
Released: Mar 8, 1996
Cast: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman

Mgm

R
Rated R for language
1h 57m
- Comedy

Release Date: Mar 8, 1996 | Wide

A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing, conservative parents.

Note:

Releases

Original Release | Mar 8, 1996

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Director & Top Cast

Mike Nichols
Director

Robin Williams
Actor

Nathan Lane
Actor

Gene Hackman
Actor

Dianne Wiest
Actor

Dan Futterman
Actor

Calista Flockhart

Actor

Hank Azaria

Actor

Christine Baranski

Actor

Tom McGowan

Actor

Grant Heslov

Actor

Kirby Mitchell

Actor

James Lally

Actor

Luca Tommassini

Actor

Luis Camacho

Actor

André Fuentes

Actor

Tony Gonzalez

Actor

Dante Henderson

Actor

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: DTS,DTS-Stereo

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film opens with a performance at the Birdcage, a nightclub situated in South Beach, Miami. The club is owned by Armand Goldman, a gay Jew in a relationship with the club's star Albert, who performs as a drag queen. Armand's son Val returns from college with an announcement: he is getting married to a schoolmate, Barbara Keeley, whose father Kevin Keeley is a conservative politician from Ohio who founded the Coalition for Moral Order, and who is seeking reelection. The problem is that Barbara hid the truth from her parents - she informed them that Val's father is a cultural attaché for Greece and that Val's mother is a housewife, and that their last name was Coleman.The Keeleys, meanwhile, are in the midst of their own crisis: Keeley's co-founder for the Coalition, Senator Jackson, died of a heart attack while in bed with an underage black prostitute. This event makes headlines, and gets the Keeleys swamped with hordes of reporters and threatens to ruin their political position. Kevins wife Louise proposes that they go to see Val's parents, who they believe are a traditional wholesome family, as a double measure to both avoid the reporters and to restore their impeccable public image. They set off, but are being tracked by a couple of reporters, who are themselves tracked by competing reporters...Val begs his father to go along with the charade, and after some deliberation he concedes. They both set to work remodeling their apartment into a more austere and simple home, and dress up the flamboyant gay manservant Agador as a butler/cook. Less simple is asking Albert for support; an effeminate, temperamental and sensitive partner, he is offended at Armand and Val asking him to be absent due to his obvious gayness, and when he tries to act like a heterosexual he fails miserably. With no other choices, Armand and Val decide to call upon Val's birthmother Katherine, a former showgirl who left Val with Armand and ran off to become a businesswoman. Asking Katherine is the last straw for Albert and he decides to go to a cemetery; Armand calms him down and reaffirms their devotion by giving him partnership of the Birdcage.The Keeleys arrive, and the night starts off fairly well, with only a few hiccups. Unfortunately, Katherine, who was supposed to join the party, gets stuck in traffic. Unexpectedly Albert dresses up as a woman and takes her place, to the horror of Armand and Val; bizarrely his masquerade works successfully and Kevin is even smitten with Mrs Coleman and her liberalness, much to Louise's indignation. However, both Kevin and Louise start to suspect that the Colemans are hiding something, especially when they are served an awful mishmash soup made of all sorts of ingredients (including hardboiled eggs), and notice that the plates hold pictures of men in disturbing poses...Katherine finally arrives, and everything falls apart: Kevin and Louise find out that Val's parents are gay Jewish nightclub owners, and they decide to leave immediately. But they discover a mass of news crews outside who tracked them down, and duck back in. Although the Keeleys have warmed up to their in-laws, they are now trapped inside and for them to appear in the presence of such people would finish their political careers. Albert hits on a brilliant scheme: he dresses the Keeleys up in drag and gives an impromptu performance, and as the show goes on Katherine successfully gets the Keeleys out of the Birdcage without any interception from reporters.The film ends with Val and Barbara getting married, in an interfaith ceremony presided by both a rabbi and priest, attended by Kevin and Louise, Katherine and Armand and Albert.

Storyline

Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover, Albert, stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling 20 years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keeley, daughter of Kevin Keeley, U.S. Senator and co-founder of the Committee for Moral Order. The senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val, his father and "mother." What ensues is comic chaos. — Randy Goldberg Lies and deception - it's all in the family when a man must convince his future in-laws that he's as uptight as they are. Armand and Albert have built the perfect life for themselves tending to their gaudy Miami nightclub. But their pastel tranquility is shaken when Armand's son announces that he's getting married to the daughter of ultra-conservative Senator Keeley... and they're all getting together for dinner. Can Armand and Albert transfer transform themselves into Mr. - and Mrs. - Family Values in time? It'll take the performance of their lives, but they'll do anything - and everything - to pull the chiffon over Keeley's eyes. — Robert Lynch The Birdcage - a drag club on the South Beach. Albert, Starina, the star of the show - one half of a couple with Armand. Val is Armand's son from a long-ago heterosexual experiment, and has been raised in the Armand and Albert apartment. His intended is Barbara, daughter of the very right wing U.S. senator John Keeley, co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. She is bringing her family to visit Val and meet his family (her parents think that Armand is a Greek diplomat). Results - mixup, pretense, and farce. — Bruce Cameron