The Recasting Couch: Ep. 73 The Birdcage

The Recasting Couch Movie Podcast

After what feels like an eternity, we are finally able to recast The Birdcage. A movie the two of us absolutely love (yes, in that way). The Birdcage tells the story of Armand Goldman, played by Robin Williams, and his life partner Albert, (Nathan Lane), as they deal with the engagement of Armand’s (highly unlikely) biological son, Val (Dan Futterman). Unfortunately, the woman he’s marrying is the daughter of a very conservative Senator Keeley (Gene Hackman), and his clueless wife (Dianne Wiest). Hilarity ensues when Barbara’s (Calista Flockhart) parents drop in for an impromptu visit as a way to dodge a political scandal, creating another one in the process.

It probably comes at no surprise, that we kiss this movie’s ass (figuratively), for the entire pod. I mean, it’s a pretty bulletproof cast. You need to get down to the 6th or 7th billed actor before even starting to see some flaws. I complain that the 118 minute movie is too short and ends abruptly, and regardless of how #onbrand that would be for me, I stand by it. If they just ended the movie at the drag show, and picked up a sequel about the wedding planning and how they would try to hide it from the media, it would have been a hit. But nobody asked me…

Speaking of asking me, we are planning on having one of our roundtable episodes be us answering questions from our audience. If you have any questions, or any topics you want us to tackle in greater depth, then hit us up on twitter @recastingpod, or email us at [email protected].

• Chris

P.S. I somehow was going to go this entire blog without mentioning Hank Azaria stealing the show as Agador Spartacus. Just watch this and bask in his brilliance.

Link to Amazon

Link to IMDB