La cage aux folles II

"La Cage Aux Folles II" is not as good as the first part. It does score some points for not being a carbon copy of the original: it does try out some new things, like the classic espionage MacGuffin of the microfilm that various secret agencies are after, or a trip to Italy in seek of refuge. Ugo Tognazzi is still the perfect straight man (so to speak....), and Michel Serrault is possibly even better this time - he develops the character further, giving him a touch of melancholy. But the film is too sluggish and sprawling - it definitely feels longer than it is (99 minutes). Still worth seeing but not a "must". **1/2 out of 4.

Gay couple Albin (Michael Serrault) and Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) get involved with the police and gangsters when Albin gets some stolen microfilm. They flee to Italy and try to hide out.

This isn't as good as the original (which was ground breaking) but it's a hundred times better than part 3 (which was dreadful). The plot is silly but when Albin and Renato are on screen who cares? The two actors are great in their roles. There's plenty of funny sequences especially when all the policemen dress up in drag! So it's worth seeing but don't expect it to be as good as the original. BTW--ignore the R rating. It's PG-13 all the way.

It's not lost on me that the very premise embraces the familiar pattern for sequels of going off the rails and throwing established characters into an even more far-fetched scenario just for kicks. And that's okay! Not every movie can pull off that free-wheeling "anything goes" spirit, but one kind of has to admire the gumption to do it in the first place, and when it works, it works. One way or another, why shouldn't gay couple Renato and Albin, the latter a drag queen at the famous titular nightclub, get themselves involved in a plot of state secrets, assassins, and international intrigue? With filmmaker Édouard Molinaro returning from the preceding picture, and the same writing team, not to mention the same principal stars (and editors, and cinematographer - and composer Ennio Morricone), all the major pieces are in place to make this farce the best that it could be. To be sure, Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault bring the same marvelous energy to their portrayals of Renato and Albin, and Benny Luke as Jacob; at its best this unquestionably illustrates the same skill, intelligence, and cleverness that made its predecessor such a success. However, I also don't think there's much arguing that 'La cage aux folles II' is a distinctly lesser creation, and it's not a big surprise that while the 1978 film got remade in the United States in 1996 as 'The birdcage,' this 1980 follow-up is virtually unknown.

At its best we get outrageous scene writing, spirited characters and commensurate performances, sharp dialogue, and all the excellence we'd assume of the name, Roman numerals or not. To that, add some splendid stunts and effects in keeping with the premise. 'II' definitely earns some laughs. Yet where in the first film the grand hilarity was paired with gratifying earnestness in the storytelling, we get nothing more than faint glimmer, here, of the latter. And hey, in that this means augmenting the farce, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. However, in place of sincerity, what we often get instead in this case feels like a level of cruelty in the writing exceeding the base prejudice with which in-law Simon Charrier was written the first time around. There are elements here of homophobia, fatphobia, ageism, and otherwise ugly condescension, gawking, dehumanization, and nastiness - in the dialogue, in how Renato and Albin are written, and in how others react to them - that feel less like 'La cage aux folles' and more like 'American History X.' More infrequently does the heart shine through, and the best cleverness; more commonly, it almost comes across that this sequel is just punching down to laugh at rather than with the queer community that it celebrated two years before.

Don't take my harsh words to suggest that this picture is bad, because that's certainly not true. I really did have a good time watching! Both as an absurd continuation of the saga of renato and Albin, and as an oblique variation on the Euro spy comedy, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't fun. But the entertainment just isn't as strong as it was before; there are even a couple points where the writing seems a tad forced, as if writers Marcello Danon, Jean Poiret, and Francis Veber were themselves struggling to make the assemblage work even on paper. By and large it's better than not, including superb filming locations, production design, costume design, and hair and makekup. I appreciate Morricone's score, Armando Nannuzzi's cinematography, and Molinaro's direction. Some moments are downright brilliant. The fact remains that anyone hoping for a genuine successor to what 'La cage aux folles' gave us are apt to be disappointed; as much as I do like this, I wonder if I'm not being too kind in my assessment. In any event, no matter how you slice it this is overall decent, and there are certainly worse ways to spend one's time. 'II' isn't an essential classic like 'I' is, and in some ways it's pointedly weaker - but if you can get on board with the abject frivolousness, it's still worthwhile on its own merits if you happen to come across it.

When this film was released on VHS worldwide, the voices had been dubbed in English; since then, I've only found subtitled in English versions. That said, the dubbed version, for those of us not fluent in French, was absolutely excellent--hats off to the producers of such an entertaining film. We find our "heroes" all embroiled in all kinds of shenanigans, but mainly: they're in trouble with the Mob. Terrifically funny and clever, it backs off the social statement that La Cage I went to great pains to present. Cage II seems to have set social significance aside, for the most part, and then panders to the "funny bone" to get laughs, albeit good ones. Both I and II were (are) trailblazers in the gay movement around the world (well, perhaps not so much in Uganda, Nigeria, or Kenya or in some Mid-Eastern countries, alas). Cage III is something else.

This movie is worth a look, even though it lacks the same spark as its supremely hilarious predecessor.

(N.B., Michel Serrault who plays Albin in the La Cage movies plays the equally fey hairdresser in "The King of Hearts" starring Alan Bates)