"The Birdcage" is the American version of "La Cage aux Folles". Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) owns a pupular drag club in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover Albert (Nathan Lane) stars in the club as Starina. The plot is the same as "La Cage", with Armand's future in-laws paying an unwelcome visit. Armand's son Val Goldman (Dan Futterman) and fiance Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart) bring ultra-conservative Republican Ohio Senator Kevin Keeley (Gene Hackman), co-founder of the right-wing "Coalition for Moral Order" to Armand's dinner party. During the meal, Louise Keeley notices that the soup bowls depict men in homoerotic poses. Armand says she is mistaken and fills everyone's bowl with soup before Mrs. Keeley or the Senator can take a closer look. The gay truth is revealed eventually, but Keeley has been discovered by the media so he and his wife escape Armand's club dressed as drag queens. Senator Keeley complains that he looks fat in his dress, and no men will dance with him. A number of songs written by Stephen Sondheim are used in this movie. Gay writer Michael Bronski wrote in Z Magazine: "The Birdcage is simple-minded, uninformed, laugh-track Hollywood junk and trades on the trendiness of certain aspects of gay male culture without ever understanding them. It also trivializes and diminishes gay lives by refusing to take them--or homophobia--seriously." However, Lone Wolf enjoys this movie and considers it superior to "La Cage". Elaine May wrote the screenplay based on the earlier screenplays of "La Cage" by Jean Poiret, Francis Veber, Edouard Molinaro, and Marcello Danon. Mike Nichols directed.
