A remake of the French film, La Cage Aux Folles, of the French play of the same name, the film is one of the first from Holywood to put LGBT characters in the starring roles, at the same time moving them from cyphers or stereotypes into fully-fledged, round human characters. The movie doesn’t labour anything, and it’s a great family watch despite it’s incomprehensible 15 certificate, mainly because it’s about family and what sacrifices parents are willing to make for their children.
Armand (Ronin Williams) is a gay, drag-club owner living in South Beach, California. His partner, Albert (Nathan Lane) is the well-known drag artiste who appears nightly at the club, and they live together “above the shop” with their Guatemalan bare-footed housekeeper, Agador.
Armand’s son, Val returns home from college, to tell his father he is getting married, but to a girl whose father is a right-wing US senator, and co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. What ensues then is a desperate scramble to appear “respectable” before the senator, his wife and daughter arrive for a dinner to meet the parents. The senator’s visit comes at an opportune time for him as he drives down to escape the newshounds pursuing him to question him about the post-coital demise of his co-founder after an evening spent with a black prostitute.
The preparations for the two open and confident gay men to go straight for the purpose of the visit are hilarious and would seem a little overdone if they were left as just that, but the effort shifts their own views of themselves and becomes personal and difficult, and while still humorous becomes poignant as they become more than just cliched camp figures. The scene with Albert in a suit and tie trying desperately to fit in, is magnificent, stressful, funny and also heart-breaking.

At this stage, Val’s mother is contacted to see if she will cover for the evening and give the respectability the evening requires, but she unfortunately gets caught in traffic and runs late, leaving a huge gap in the cast for the nerve-wracking dinner. Who will step up to fill the chasm?
The dinner is going to be painful, but it gives great moments of comedy and affords a chance to have the more conservative beliefs of the senator and his wife confronted and made even more ridiculous than they first appeared; a theme which underlies the film and is taken to a great conclusion as the senator’s family decide to head home.


Certificate: PG
1 hour 59 min
Prime (free @ Dec 23)
Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Weist, Hank Azaria
Comedy Drama Family