The Birdcage
Come as you are.
Middle-aged gay life partners, Armand Goldman, a Jewish drag club owner, and Albert, the club's flamboyant star attraction, live in the eclectic community of South Beach and have raised a straight son. Now, their newly engaged son, 20-year-old Val, wants to bring his fiancée, Barbara, and her ultraconservative parents home to meet his family for the first time. By Val's request, Armand pretends to be straight, not Jewish and attempts to hide his relationship with Albert, in order to please Barbara's father, controversial right-wing Republican Sen. Kevin Keeley.
Wokeness: 40%
Overall Score: 100%
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User Submitted Reviews
JustEntertainment
Is a gay film necessarily woke?
A conundrum. This film was made seemingly before the overtly woke wave of sexuality and racism slapping the cheeks of our children really hit the mainstream. In that context, is it blacklisting-level woke?
The elements are there, minus the racism.
A gay couple who run a nightclub (with the "feminine" partner playing a drag queen) must act "straight" for the sake of meeting their son's extremely conservative parents.
There are jabs at conservatives, but then again, there are jabs at the gay lifestyle. There are hints of "racist white people" when the issue of the gay dude (played by Robin Williams) being Jewish is somehow an issue.
That said, there are no "poor poor oppressed penises (penii?) being trampled by Evil White Men" bigotry scenes, no lashing out in long teary soliloquies about oppression, no checkbox "black female lesbians who don't need no man yass queen" characters.
So while it does technically checkbox for the woke, this film is still heavily enjoyable even from a mighty conservative viewpoint.
Created: 08-02-2022
