One of Robin Williams’ lesser-known, but just as hilarious movies, “The Birdcage” is just as funny today as it was 30 years ago. 

Armand Goldman, played by Robin Williams, is the owner of The Birdcage, a very popular drag nightclub in South Beach Miami, Florida. His longtime partner, Albert Goldman, played by Nathan Lane, is the star of the show Sabrina. Their son Val, played by Dan Futterman, comes home from college to announce his engagement to Barbara Keely, played by Calista Flockhart. 

Barbara’s father Kevin, played by Gene Hackman, is, coincidently, a very conservative U. S. Senator and co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. Amid his re-election campaign, his co-founder of the coalition, Senator Jackson, is found dead in the bed of an underage, black prostitute. The media, of course, has a field day with this information and forces the Keely family to leave town for a little while. 

Barbara has told her parents Val’s father is on the council of cultural arts and is a cultural attaché to Greece, that his mother is a housewife, that they are very christian and their last name is Coleman. As she’s telling her parents, Val calls and has Armand speak to her. Her father is listening in on the conversation and realizes she lied about them living in Greece. Barbara, with her quick thinking, tells him Val’s parents are back for the winter and staying in their home in South Beach. 

Val begs Armand to pretend to be a cultural attaché, to send Albert away for a few days and to redecorate the house so it’s a “little more like other people’s homes,”  just until Barbara and her parents leave. Armard agrees, but Albert refuses to leave and thus, chaos ensues. 

My mom and I first came across this movie last summer and didn’t expect much since we found it on Tubi. Fortunately, we were proven incredibly wrong as this is one of the most hilarious movies we’ve watched together.

One of the best characters is the Goldmans’ gay Guatemalan housekeeper, Agador, played by Hank Azaria. Agador wears very little clothing and never shoes, because wearing shoes makes him fall, while he performs his various tasks around the house. 

Although he lacks any actual talent, he desperately wants a job at the nightclub downstairs. He is recruited to help Armand and Val in the plan to act straight, even creating a new persona to try and sell the act. Wearing a suit, tie and shoes, “Spartacus” makes the dinner between the two families that much worse. 

While this film is comedic gold at almost every turn, there are some times you can’t help but get mad at some of the characters and feel bad for others. 

I mean, how bad of a son do you have to be to ask your father to send his partner away because your fianceé and her conservative family are coming to visit? I understand Val wants to make a good first impression on Barbras family, but he can do that without sacrificing his relationship with his own family. For this you can’t help but feel bad for Albert, who is almost being reprimanded just for being himself. 

After earning almost $200 million at the international box office there’s no question about whether the film was well received by audiences or not. But more than just a mainstream comedy, “The Birdcage” was one of the few mainstream movies to showcase mutiple openly gay characters at the time.

If your looking for a movie that will have you laughing out loud for almost two hours, give “The Birdcage” a try. I can promise it will be worth it. 

“The Birdcage” is a treat for anyone who wants to laugh out loud for almost two hours.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment