Its chic, its Chanel, its Chicago 1929. Bob Fosse's classic stage musical Chicago has finally hit the big screen with all the pizzazz of the West End but not quite the razzmatazz of Moulin Rouge! (2001).Rob Marshall's film is the first musical to hit us since Baz Lurhmann's outstanding reinvention of the genre. If Moulin Rouge! is post-modern then Chicago is certainly post-MR. It is testament to the Australian helmer that it took the adaptation of an all-time musical classic to stand-up to the shadow left by his 2001 turbo-charged smash. However, while MR was like a riotous rollercoaster ride, Chicago is more of a hectic high-speed-train journey with frustrating short stops along the way.
A musical in the purest sense, Chicago takes us on a hedonistic journey using raw sex appeal, stinging satire, super spectacle and all that jazz. The only problem is, it's not all jazz. Sure its laced with sexy lingerie, liquor ... and Richard Gere, but even his 'Razzle Dazzle' can't save the film from occasionally slipping gears like a first-time driver.
Nonetheless, this dark story of murder and celebrity is intriguing and fun. When Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) fills her good-for-nothing lover with lead she joins her stage idol Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) in Cook County Jail's ranks of female killers. Kelly is the jail's most famous inmate and awaits trail for the murder of her adulterous husband and sister. It is with Hart's incarceration that the film really lifts off. Queen Latifah, as Mama. the prison matron, is a genuine surprise oozing star quality in her rendition of 'When You're Good to Mama' and 'Cell Block Tango' is an exhilarating trip into the realm of fantasy as Kelly and the other inmates taunt Hart. This sequence is saturated in sexuality and one of the highlights of the film.
Hart's corruption is cemented by her battle with Kelly for the attention of celebrity lawyer Billy Flynn (Gere) and affection of the media. Flynn has never lost a case and he knows how good he is: 'If Jesus Christ had lived in Chicago and if he'd had $5,000, and had come to me – things would have turned out different.' This is where the satire filters its way into the film. The nature of celebrity courting the media is one of mutual exploitation that proliferates in today's society. Flynn plays the media, and therefore the public, like a fiddle. 'We Both Reached for the Gun' is one of the real coups of Marshall's film as he portrays a press conference as a puppet show.
This culminates in the film's climatic court sequence where Gere excels. His tap-dancing dramatic finale is an enthralling piece of cinema and showmanship. Marshall's style of splicing 'reality' with the characters' fantasies makes Chicago visually thrilling. But as the musical pieces come thick and fast, much of the dialog feels hurried and slightly redundant. As a result the film feels like it is stuttering and tripping over itself. This especially contrasts with the skilled and dangerous dancing of Zeta-Jones who performs her role like a true Broadway super-star.
Zellweger puts in a performance resembling her cutesy innocence perfected in Jerry Maguire (1996), with added spice in her sassy pursuit of fame. The real shocker is Richard Gere. Shocking in the sense that, like Moulin Rouge! reinvigorated an aged genre, Gere has rejuvenated his career with an outpouring of theatrics you'd be forgiven for believing were beyond him.
Reviewed by Scott Henderson
Reader comments about Chicago
steven (Email address withheld) writes:
chicago is a masterpiece! moulin rouge! was good but this is far better. its songs are so catchy, i was singing them in school. zelwegger, jones, gere and latifah make a great all star cast with wonderful singing voices. sexy outfits, addictive songs and 1st class acting make a classic! au revoir moulin rouge! Hello Chicago!!
manjula venugopal (Email address withheld) writes:
Trickling rain drops, curvy dance moves, a stage, a murder, loads of jazz and suddenly a captivating story is born. A story that is captured within an era. A story that blends so tatstefully within the dance ballads and the song routines that they become more integral to the plot than the dialoques itself.One actually comes out of the theatre wondering if it was a play or a film that they watched!!
Rob Marshall's Chicago is truly one of the most entertaining movies of the decade.
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