Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780792837893
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0792837894
Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Release Date: 1998-02-03
Running Time: 119
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Theatrical Release Date: 1996-03-08

The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to (respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedy La Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television's Ally McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus." --Jeff Shannon

Customer Rating:
Summary: Gets More Annoying With Time
Comment: The more I watch "Birdcage" the more it annoys me. The REALLY slow pacing of the story, not to mention the absolutely obnoxious son of two gay men who seem so I'll suited to one another, and Nathan Lane's over-the-top, whinning queen act get tired very fast. What exactly is so funny about two gay men having to hide everything about themselves to please a hateful, right-wing Republican? So if you're a straight, WASP-ish Republican bigot, then all is good? Why do gay men always have to be the brunt of the joke? Maybe straight audiences in 1996 thought this was hysterical, but in 2008 it's just plain old.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great!
Comment: Brand new movie, still in packaging. I watched the movie the same night I received it. The DVD was in perfect condition. I received this movie shortly after I ordered. The delivery was fast!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Review of Birdcage
Comment: I always thought that the movie was greatest movie of Robin Williams. I had been looking for aDVD of the movie for quite sometime now but was always looking in stores who carried DVD's. Then it dawned on me. Look on Amazon.com. I'm glad I did.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Review of the Birdcage
Comment: The movie is one of Robin Williams better movies. I also liked the role that Gene Hackman played. Nathen Lane was great in his role.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: John Wayne's BEST
Comment: Oddly, I can't stand the stars of this film. Robin Williams exudes an arrogance that is so annoying to me that I can't watch him. Nathan Lane is a bore. Hackman is an old favorite, but other that that, there isn't anyone is in this picture who is a favorite. Yet, I love this picture and think Williams and Lane together are brilliant. Only in this picture do I think Williams' peculiar talent for pretentiousness really works. He's a show-off type, a pseudo-intellectual, and a gifted mimic. Here it all combines into a role that makes sense. Lane has an essentially weak personality. One sees this in "The Producers." Without a strong Robin Williams type to play against, he disappears. In this, again, he is better than good - he is brilliant. Both are talented physical artists, whose small gestures really work well in their various efforts to appear masculine. Conflict, it is said, is the source of humor. The story line, of course, is all conflict, wonderful conflict. The writing is strong. Hackman has a wonderful monologue, spewing utter nonsense about the countryside and patriotism. It is pure genius. Overall, this is one of the best comedies of the decade, silly yet topical and fresh.

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