Being broke, I'm going to go for whatever's cheap on amazon, which is La Cage Aux Folles [1980]. "A likeable 1977 French farce (and the basis for the 1996 American remake, The Birdcage), this popular comedy was one of the most successful international films of all time, and even spawned a Broadway musical and two sequels." Apparently. I'll let you know when I get it.
Oh dear. That was bad. Really bad. Amusing in a kind of car-crash-this-is-really-awful-and-cringeworthy kind of way. I have to say that I would never have described this as comedy, probably because I only laughed about 3 times in it. Amusing yes, comedy no.
So the story:
-Man runs high class drag cabaret club in Cannes, with his Partner of many years as star of the show.
-Man has 20 year old Son, who visists to announce that he's got engaged.
-Son's Girlfriend is the daughter of a leading politician who is second in command to the ultra, ultra conservative party, whose name escapes me at the moment, but involved the word morality somewhere.
-Parents plan to come and visit Son's parents, who Girlfriend has described as the Italian cultural attache and his stay at home wife.
-Father's boss dies suddenly, in the bed of a prostitute, which is a bit unfortunate for his political party.
-Then there's a few minutes filled with father trying to avoid the press at his door by climbing in the back window.
-Parents and Girlfriend then travel to visit Man, Partner and Son, with the chauffeur tipping off the press.
-Meanwhile, Man has to persuade Son's real Mother to come to the dinner.
-Partner tries to be and dress as a 'normal' man, but fails rather spectacularly. This may be in part due to his habit of constant camp screams at anything unusual or unexpected.
-Butler (also wonderfully camp) tries to dress as a normal butler, but fails slightly on the shoes aspect, as he's normally wandering round the house in just a frilly apron and a wig.
-Parents show up.
-It all starts off alright, as Man and Son greet the parents, Butler has got used to his shoes, and the house has been decamped.
-Son's mum turns up. Only it isn't his Mother, but Man's Partner back in drag. A few suspicious looks and feelings, but the let it pass.
-Then real Mother turns up. And the fake mother is revealed to be the Partner. The shock doesn't really have a chance to set in, as now the cast from the nightclub burst in, in costume, to wish Man and Partner a happy 20th anniversary.
-Parents try to leave, but the press is outside. The only route out is through the club. In drag...
-It nearly works too, until their chauffeur can't/won't recognise them when they reach the car, and the press pounce!
-The film ends at the wedding ceremony, with a weeping aunt (who is actually the Partner).
Overall, the film was alright. It played on gay stereotypes quite a lot, and also a little on race relations, with the only black character in the film being the butler, who refered to the father and son as 'big master' and 'little master'. I'm not sure it particularly had a storyline, I didn't feel it really went anywhere and when it got to the end had one of those 'oh, was that it?' moments. I wouldn't complain if I had to watch it again, but if you wanted to watch it I'd lend it to you and save you �6. (8 Women on the other hand is fantastic, if only for the combination of cheesey music and murder mystery)