The Birdcage(1996)

Name: The Birdcage
Director: Mike Nichols
Genre: Comedy
Released: Mar 8, 1996
Cast: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

R
Rated R for language
1h 57m
- Comedy

Release Date: Mar 8, 1996 | Wide

A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing, conservative parents.

Note: Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)See full company information

Releases

Original Release | Mar 8, 1996

30th Anniversary (Fathom Entertainment) | Jun 7, 2026

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Box Office Results

Updated as of Jun 28, 2026 11:12 AM ET

All Releases (2)
Total US & Canada:
$124,399,687
Total International
$61,200,000
Total Worldwide:
$185,599,687

Total US & Canada:
$120,456,200
Total Worldwide:
$120,456,200

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Director & Top Cast

Mike Nichols
Director

Robin Williams
Armand Goldman

Nathan Lane
Albert

Gene Hackman
Senator Keeley

Dianne Wiest
Louise Keeley

Dan Futterman
Val Goldman

Calista Flockhart

Barbara Keeley

Hank Azaria

Agador

Christine Baranski

Katharine

Tom McGowan

Harry Radman

Grant Heslov

Photographer

Kirby Mitchell

Chauffeur

James Lally

Stage manager

Luca Tommassini

Celsius

Luis Camacho

Goldman girl

André Fuentes

Goldman girl

Tony Gonzalez

Goldman girl

Dante Henderson

Goldman girl

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: DTS,DTS-Stereo

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film opens with a performance at the Birdcage, a nightclub situated in South Beach, Miami. The club is owned by Armand Goldman, a gay Jew in a relationship with the club's star Albert, who performs as a drag queen. Armand's son Val returns from college with an announcement: he is getting married to a schoolmate, Barbara Keeley, whose father Kevin Keeley is a conservative politician from Ohio who founded the Coalition for Moral Order, and who is seeking reelection. The problem is that Barbara hid the truth from her parents - she informed them that Val's father is a cultural attaché for Greece and that Val's mother is a housewife, and that their last name was Coleman.The Keeleys, meanwhile, are in the midst of their own crisis: Keeley's co-founder for the Coalition, Senator Jackson, died of a heart attack while in bed with an underage black prostitute. This event makes headlines, and gets the Keeleys swamped with hordes of reporters and threatens to ruin their political position. Kevins wife Louise proposes that they go to see Val's parents, who they believe are a traditional wholesome family, as a double measure to both avoid the reporters and to restore their impeccable public image. They set off, but are being tracked by a couple of reporters, who are themselves tracked by competing reporters...Val begs his father to go along with the charade, and after some deliberation he concedes. They both set to work remodeling their apartment into a more austere and simple home, and dress up the flamboyant gay manservant Agador as a butler/cook. Less simple is asking Albert for support; an effeminate, temperamental and sensitive partner, he is offended at Armand and Val asking him to be absent due to his obvious gayness, and when he tries to act like a heterosexual he fails miserably. With no other choices, Armand and Val decide to call upon Val's birthmother Katherine, a former showgirl who left Val with Armand and ran off to become a businesswoman. Asking Katherine is the last straw for Albert and he decides to go to a cemetery; Armand calms him down and reaffirms their devotion by giving him partnership of the Birdcage.The Keeleys arrive, and the night starts off fairly well, with only a few hiccups. Unfortunately, Katherine, who was supposed to join the party, gets stuck in traffic. Unexpectedly Albert dresses up as a woman and takes her place, to the horror of Armand and Val; bizarrely his masquerade works successfully and Kevin is even smitten with Mrs Coleman and her liberalness, much to Louise's indignation. However, both Kevin and Louise start to suspect that the Colemans are hiding something, especially when they are served an awful mishmash soup made of all sorts of ingredients (including hardboiled eggs), and notice that the plates hold pictures of men in disturbing poses...Katherine finally arrives, and everything falls apart: Kevin and Louise find out that Val's parents are gay Jewish nightclub owners, and they decide to leave immediately. But they discover a mass of news crews outside who tracked them down, and duck back in. Although the Keeleys have warmed up to their in-laws, they are now trapped inside and for them to appear in the presence of such people would finish their political careers. Albert hits on a brilliant scheme: he dresses the Keeleys up in drag and gives an impromptu performance, and as the show goes on Katherine successfully gets the Keeleys out of the Birdcage without any interception from reporters.The film ends with Val and Barbara getting married, in an interfaith ceremony presided by both a rabbi and priest, attended by Kevin and Louise, Katherine and Armand and Albert.

Storyline

Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover, Albert, stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling 20 years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keeley, daughter of Kevin Keeley, U.S. Senator and co-founder of the Committee for Moral Order. The senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val, his father and "mother." What ensues is comic chaos. — Randy Goldberg Lies and deception - it's all in the family when a man must convince his future in-laws that he's as uptight as they are. Armand and Albert have built the perfect life for themselves tending to their gaudy Miami nightclub. But their pastel tranquility is shaken when Armand's son announces that he's getting married to the daughter of ultra-conservative Senator Keeley... and they're all getting together for dinner. Can Armand and Albert transfer transform themselves into Mr. - and Mrs. - Family Values in time? It'll take the performance of their lives, but they'll do anything - and everything - to pull the chiffon over Keeley's eyes. — Robert Lynch The Birdcage - a drag club on the South Beach. Albert, Starina, the star of the show - one half of a couple with Armand. Val is Armand's son from a long-ago heterosexual experiment, and has been raised in the Armand and Albert apartment. His intended is Barbara, daughter of the very right wing U.S. senator John Keeley, co-founder of the Coalition for Moral Order. She is bringing her family to visit Val and meet his family (her parents think that Armand is a Greek diplomat). Results - mixup, pretense, and farce. — Bruce Cameron

Frequently Asked Questions

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Fun Facts

Mike Nichols and Elaine May's first — and long-awaited — movie collaboration. The director and screenwriter were legendary improv comedy partners in the 1950s and '60s, but they had never made a feature film together from start to finish. Nichols had wanted to remake La Cage aux Folles for 15 years, and when he finally got the green light, he brought in May to write the adaptation. It was their first complete cinematic collaboration.

Robin Williams and Steve Martin swapped places — and Martin regretted it. Steve Martin was originally cast as Armand, with Robin Williams set to play Albert. But Martin dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and Williams asked to switch to Armand because he had already played a flamboyant drag character in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and didn't want to repeat himself. Martin later regretted turning down the role, as he never ended up making a film with Williams.

Hank Azaria based his voice on his grandmother — and didn't realize it for weeks. Azaria's character Agador was originally written as a separate black housekeeper to be played by David Alan Grier. When the filmmakers decided that would carry racist undertones, Robin Williams suggested combining the roles and giving them to Azaria. After filming for two to three weeks, Azaria suddenly realized his Guatemalan housekeeper voice sounded exactly like his own grandmother.

Robin Williams's kitchen slip was a genuine accident. In the scene where Armand panics over the shrimp and falls on the kitchen floor, Williams actually slipped for real. The shot was kept in the final cut — and if you look closely, you can see Hank Azaria and Dan Futterman struggling to hold back laughter while Williams himself suppresses a laugh as he tells everyone to "Go" out of the kitchen.