The Birdcage

It tends to be a surprise at how well some works hold up amid the passage of time. The people involved may have passed on since then, but it's how the story has endured that stands out. Several sensibilities have shifted, but it proves to be ahead of its own time.

Take, for instance, Mike Nichols' The Birdcage. Made when the queer community served as little more than a demeaning punchline, it itself shows how unwarranted such "jokes" are, instead showing them in a more sympathetic light. If anything, the butt of the jokes (courtesy of Elaine May's script) are the uptight conservatives whose myopic views are unfortunately still rampant today.

That said, there are moments in The Birdcage that very much date it. The stereotypes are leaned into a bit too broadly at times. (Granted, this was a few years before Will & Grace hit the airwaves, but still.) However, once the first impression has been scraped back, there's more depth to the characters, giving them the dignity they were denied the previous decade. Small steps, but progress all the same.

As expected from a Nichols production, The Birdcage gets some solid work from its roster of actors. There's an irony in there being a film starring Robin Williams (playing the ironic "straight man") where he gets overshadowed by Gene Hackman (not long after his Oscar win for Unforgiven) when it comes to laughs (case in point: the closing scene). Just goes to show that Nichols was good at his job. (One doesn't become an EGOT winner from just showing up, after all.)

The Birdcage may be a product of its time on occasion, but it still treats its subjects better than other similar works of the era. In the time since its release, things have fluctuated between improving and declining for the queer community. One thing, however, has remained consistent: they aren't taking things lying down.

My Rating: ****