The Birdcage (1996)

Robin Williams and Nathan Lane make a long relationship visible inside the machinery of a disastrous dinner. The demand that their household appear respectable supplies the farce with something more painful than an ordinary mistaken identity. The performances and Elaine May's writing keep finding human stakes beneath the panic. Its camp stereotypes and Hank Azaria's broad portrayal of the Guatemalan houseman are material limitations, not invisible period details. The case for returning rests on the central couple and the exact timing of their attempted concealment.