>>Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:26:54 -0500
>>From: daniel landherr 
>>To: Philip Lam 
>>Subject: Re: REVIEW: THE BIRDCAGE (1996)
>>Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews
>>

In article <4rg47f$d6g@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> you wrote:

:                               THE BIRDCAGE
:                        A film review by Philip Lam
:                         Copyright 1996 Philip Lam

: Directed by: Mike Nichols
: Written by: Elaine May
: Cast : Robin Williams (Armand Goldman), Gene Hackman (Senator Kevin
: Keeley), Nathan Lane (Albert Goldman/ Starina), Dianne Wiest (Louise
: Keeley), Dan Futterman (Val Goldman), Calista Flockhart (Barbara
: Keeley), Hank Azaria (Agador), Christine Baranski (K atherine)
: Produced by : MGM/UA / Mgm/ua Distribution Co. (distributor) / United
: Artists

: Rating : *** out of *****


: DON'T WATCH THIS BIRDIE

: act really isn't all that commercially viable (be honest: anyone could
: have done DEAD POETS' SOCIE TY; and THE FISHER KING, who understood
: that??). Reversion back to Mork-mode was inevitable. Doing that

How could you not understand THE FISHER KING?  It was a story of a man
who lost his partner tragically and created a fantasy world to cope with
it.  The main character ironically caused the situation and tries to help
the man.  In helping him, the main character learns that fantasy can be
helpful to retaining sanity in a stressful world.  There, now you get
it.  For a Terry Gilliam movie that is hard to understand, watch BRAZIL.

Your lack of understanding simple themes explains your lack of skill in a
review, throughout the Birdcage review, you harp on plot and acting, when
in reality this is a comedy where acting is supposed to be a little
cartoonish and not overly layered.  You barely mention the most serious
flaw that I saw, which is for two people about to get married, these kids
barely interact, and often seem like they don't know each other.

Also, it was nice for Williams to back off and let someone else take over, he
had his moments, although they were more subtle.  Nathan Lane obviously
was set up to be another "comic film star" in this movie, possibly
because Broadway isn't paying too well.  I enjoyed Lane's performance,
Hackman was a master at deadpan, and Dianne Wiest embodied everyone's
dysfunctional mother.  At least the plot was consistent, even if the gay
jokes were annoying after a while.

Dan Landherr

P.S. you could easily have deleted your self-gratifying, ego boost
paragraph where you proved to the world that you can use a French to
English dictionary.

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