The Birdcage

Directed by Mike Nichols, The Birdcage follows gay couple Armand (Robin Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) as they agree to meet the straitlaced parents (Gene Hackman’s Kevin and Dianne Wiest’s Louise) of their son’s (Dan Futterman’s Val) future wife (Calista Flockhart’s Barbara). Filmmaker Nichols, working from Elaine May’s screenplay, delivers a frequently hilarious comedy that benefits substantially from the stellar efforts of an all-star cast, as the movie’s various stars step into the shoes of their admittedly larger-than-life characters to a degree that frequently proves impossible to resist – with, especially, Lane’s far-from-subtle yet consistently captivating turn as the flamboyant Albert providing the picture with its biggest laughs. It’s clear, then, that The Birdcage‘s unreasonably padded-out running time prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing the material on a distressingly recurrent basis, as the film suffers from a rather hit-and-miss midsection that wreaks havoc on its momentum and paves the way for a climactic stretch that could (and should) be better – which does, in the end, cement the movie’s place as a perfectly watchable piece of work that isn’t quite as engrossing and compelling as one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****