Rewatching the Birdcage

[Anonymous]

hmm I'm rewatching the Birdcage and... the son comes off as kind of an a$$ no??? or am really naive about the disrespect that gay people had to live with from everyone around them?? I know that I dont really know what it used to be like since I was a teen in the 90s and lived in a very liberal area??

[Anonymous]

I agree. Also, he’s a horrible actor.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but I also thought that when I saw the movie when it came out.

[Anonymous]

Same, I always thought he was an a$$. I think it was clumsy storytelling to show his growth. Thankfully so many good performances, otherwise. “Someone had to like me best!” Paraphrasing.

[Anonymous]

He can be an a$$ at the same time you can be really naive about how hard it was to be gay. Because I do think the latter is most likely true. I mean you do realize that when this movie was made, gay people were Losing jobs, apartments, families just because they were gay. It was a terribly difficult and stressful time and add in the AIDS epidemic.

[Anonymous]

I never thought the movie was that funny.

[Anonymous]

ICYMI:

When Robin Williams and Nathan Lane were promoting the film on Oprah, she put Lane on the spot essentially trying to out him. Robin quickly stepped in with jokes to deflect and redirect. But Lane has spoken openly (many years (decades?) later to explain how his career could have been ended had he come out publicly at that time.

All this to say, most of America was still making fun of gay people then. Heck, I don’t think lgbtq had even been coined an acronym yet.

Nonetheless, I always thought the son came off as uptight and jerky, but lots of college kids are self-centered and he needed to be freaking out about what his future in-laws would think since it’s central to the story (which is based on a very old French story that was on Broadway long before it was turned into an American film).

Lastly, this movie is amazingly awesome. Terrific acting, and very fun watch over and over again.

[Anonymous]

RIP Robin Williams. He was a terrific actor.

[Anonymous]

Different topic, but let us not forget Agador Spartacus!

[Anonymous]

The movie is just an updated (for that era) U.S. version of La Cage Aux Folles which was released/set in 1978.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The movie is just an updated (for that era) U.S. version of La Cage Aux Folles which was released/set in 1978.

+1. Which itself was based on the original French play from 1973.

[Anonymous]

The French original is incredible

[Anonymous]

I don't think the son is so terrible. I think he's just acting like a kid bringing home his girlfriend would in that situation. Slightly bratty or whatever, but he comes off great at the ending speech.

[Anonymous]

I'm in my early 40s and I grew up with a trans parent and this was among my favorite movies. The reaction to this stuff was pitch-perfect for the time period. He did not seem like a jerk, just uptight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the son is so terrible. I think he's just acting like a kid bringing home his girlfriend would in that situation. Slightly bratty or whatever, but he comes off great at the ending speech.

Interestingly, Calista Flockhart looked healthy (slim, but not anorexic) in that film.