The Birdcage

The Birdcage. 1996 United Artists.
Starring: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria
Director: Mike Nichols
Buy The Birdcage at your favorite pet store.

Hold hands, you lovebirds! Val Goldman (Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Flockhart) are engaged, and they want their families to meet. Problem is, their families couldn't be any more different.

Val's dad is Armand Goldman (Williams), the owner of a gay club called The Birdcage. His partner is Albert (Lane), who makes regular appearances at The Birdcage as the drag queen "Starina". Armand and Albert share the house with a housekeeeper named Agador (Azaria), who is even more outrageously flamboyant than Albert! On the other hand, Barbara's father is an ultraconservative Republican Ohio Senator Kevin Keeley (Hackman), a co-founder of the right wing "Coalition for Moral Order", and he's up for re-election. Barbara lies to her folks, saying that Armand is from Greece, and that Albert is both a woman and a housewife, even saying their last name is Coleman to hide their Jewish background.

Senator Keeley receives a phone call that his colleague and co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order, Senator Jackson, is found dead in the bed of an underage black prostitute, which naturally becomes a media sensation. Louise Keeley (Wiest) proposes that she and her husband to meet the "Colemans" as a diversion to save Kevin's political career. Besides, wouldn't Barbara marrying into a "traditional, wholesome" family give the Senator excellent PR material?

Barbara phones Val about the lies she's told her parents, and Val finally talks Armand into going along with the farce. The house is redecorated in a more "heterosexual" manner, and Armand talks Val's biological mother Katherine (Christine Baranski) into taking part in the facade, which she agrees to.

Unfortunately, it could very well be Albert and Agador being forced to play roles that they were never meant to play that could bring this charade crashing down...

Great movie! Highly recommended.

Besides, how many times can you think of where another actor (Nathan Lane) steals the show from Robin Williams?