MovieChat Forums > The Birdcage (1996) Discussion > Underage drinking and Val saying he had ...

Underage drinking and Val saying he had job offers already. Silly.

posted 18 years ago by steve-pet-peeve
25 replies | jump to latest

I noticed that Val is offered booze by his father Armand, yet he is only 20. Okay, I'll buy that. But at the party, even the 18 year old fiance is drinking, and at the table where her parents are. And they are conservative Republicans. That's *beep* They wouldn't have that, and Armand wouln't even think of serving her alcohol in front of her parents. They should have made the kids older because this is plot hole.

Second, Val tells everyone that he's got 'job offers' already when they mention that he's too young to get married, or when they ask him how he's going to support himself. He's a sophmore and has job offers? *beep* Absolute *beep* unless he's talking about Pizza Hut or Taco Bell. They don't recruit sophmores.

Why the hell didn't they make him a senior and her a junior so they could skirt these two plot holes?

[–] off_with_the_faries 18 years ago

Maybe that's how old they are in the French version and in other countries the education system is different and people can have finished tertiary study already and have job offers.
It's not really a majorly important part of the story anyway.
Also with the drinking thing, they're wasps, they probably drink at home all the time.

[–] off_with_the_faries 18 years ago

Also, once again if it's based off the French script, it's fine for younger people to drink with their families.

[–] Director-21 18 years ago

Go ask Jenna Bush (arrested for underage drinking) about conservative Republicans' kids drinking.

[–] kevindalemoore 18 years ago

It's not like the kids are getting hammered or anything, it's not really that big of a deal. People make such a huge fuss about drinking.

[–] AND77 18 years ago

My brother got job offers long before he graduated from firms who wanted to hire him, and the one who DID hire him payed a big part of the rest of his education. He was a business major.

[–] zandy31 17 years ago

Where are you from? The legal drinking age might be 21 but most people start drinking at 15 or 16 if not younger. And I don't know any parents who would have a problem with an 18+ son or daughter drinking a glass of champaign.

[–] michiruwater 17 years ago

I just graduated high school in 2007... even the children of the most conservative people I have ever met drank. In fact most of the kids in my grade who got *beep* the most and drank on school night had extremely, extremely conservative families who were either in denial or complete hypocrites. In most cases I think it was the former.

"There is some one I must protect." - Riza Hawkeye, FMA

[–] muwx2002 17 years ago

My family is socially conservative and they let me drink before I was 21... my dad is the most conservative and he would always give me sips out of his drinks when I was growing up... no big deal.

[–] pamjp 16 years ago

It is not illegal to consume alcohol in Florida under the age of 21. It is illegal to purchase it, or to consume it in a public place.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html

[–] eliwire 16 years ago

Ignoring the drinking part (everybody already said what I would say, anyway...its realistic to be conservative and drink, or the French theory, or whatever), did they actually say he's a sophomore? If he graduated high school at 17, had his freshman year of college at 18, sophomore at 19, and was a junior at age 20 (the age he is in this movie) it wouldn't be that weird at all. I'm a junior and I have job offers, too! It might be a difference in whatever you majored in and what I am majoring in. They certainly recruit nurses!!!

[–] punxgurrl 16 years ago

My parents are conservative Republicans and they let me drink wine after I turned 18.

Maybe he's finishing college early. I knew a guy who finished in 3 years, and sometimes employers go after people their senior year. So Val could be in his senior year.