The Birdcage (1996 Mike Nichols)

Hardly disguising its theatrical origins ("La Cage aux Folles" by Jean Poiret, itself filmed in France), Elaine May's adaptation works a treat, particularly providing a great role for Nathan Lane who is hilarious (I love his screams); Robin Williams, though subdued, is also good, as are all cast (sign of being well directed too) which features Gene Hackman, Diane Weist, Hank Azaria; and Dan Futterman and Calista Flockhart as the rather colourless couple.

We recognise Lane as 'Pepper' in Modern Family and from The Good Wife but he seems mainly to have been on TV.

South Beach setting is quite well exploited (looks like a major party destination still).There's also some sensational lighting from Emmanuel Lubezki, just the kind of cameraman you want to artfully cover long takes. From an interview with Chivo:

What was your experience like on “The Birdcage” with Mike Nichols? That opening shot was, I would imagine, great practice for something like “Birdman.”

It was incredible. It was one of the highlights of my life, and [Mike Nichols] was a wonderful human being. I miss him dearly. What he taught me had more to do with love for the craft and the actors. That first shot I think was his idea, and at the time it sounded completely insane. But little by little we did storyboards, and I think it was with the help of ILM that we did previz of the different shots. But you know it was very tricky because the digital technology was not the same as now. It's three or four shots stitched together, and the movements were very complicated — the speed had to be the same from one shot to the other, and the lighting had to match. It was very tricky.
And then, I was very upset because they put the credits on top of it! But that's an interesting thing — it hurt my ego, and the ego of the technicians. But if you think about it, a great director does things like that. A great director will destroy his own shot, no matter its difficulty, if it’s messing up the tempo of the movie. Otherwise it has no reason to exist.

Interview from 'The Playlist'.

The National Enquirer photographer is Clooney's co-producer Grant Heslov.