Chicago

Rating

Director

Rob Marshall

Screenplay

Bill Condon (Play by Maurine Dallas Watkins; Musical by Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb, John Kander)

Length

113 min.

Starring

Taye Diggs, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, John C. Reilly, Colm Feore, Chita Rivera, Queen Latifah, Richard Gere, Christine Baranski, Lucy Liu

MPAA Rating

PG-13 (For sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements)

Review

The movie musical sees a dramatic rebirth in the musical Chicago, a production about women on death row and how they work to get out of prison for crimes that they undoubtedly committed.

Renee Zellweger, after years as the minor starlet, saw her fame rise as the Oscar-nominated lead in Bridget Jones’ Diary. Now she’s moved from comedy to musical and the Academy has taken note once again. With her second nomination as the murderess Roxie Hart, Zellweger delivers a performance of charismatic precision. Though we often like her co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones better, she is unmistakably in tune in Chicago.

Roxie is on death row because she killed her boyfriend Fred Casely because he had cheated on her. Jealousy is to be expected, but her troubles rise as we learn that she was, herself, cheating on her husband Amos (John C. Reilly). Arriving on death row, she finds her idol Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) waiting for her attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to get her out of the charges of murdering her sister and husband, whom she caught in the act as exposed in the rousing number “Cell Block Tango”.

Zeta-Jones is delicious in the film. Her performance is fun, energetic and surprising. The wife of Michael Douglas never seemed the type, from her previous performances, to excel in such a role. Gere is also at the top of his game after having been off it since his stellar turn in Pretty Woman twelve years prior. His renaissance is assured after seeing him at work here. Just like Zeta-Jones, it’s not the type of performance one expects but it’s certainly a perf one enjoys.

When looking at the glossier, in-front roles, one often forgets about the supporting players. Both Latifah and Reilly are terrific in the film. With the hard-nosed cell block matron, another actress might have made her less genial and interesting. Latifah gives her an adorable quality that counteracts the manipulative nature of the character. Reilly, on the other hand, is the lovable, repressed husband put-upon by a wife who has never appreciated him. His mournful number “Mr. Cellophane” embodies the grief of which he’s possessed as the man who no one ever seem to notice.

A revival of the movie musical had been languishing ever since Evita failed to garner the box office and the awards such a rebirth would require. The evolution of film musical success came five years after Madonna’s vision of Eva Peron when Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor helped usher in the new era with Moulin Rouge. Now, we have another pic to carry the crown for a new generation of theater to screen adaptations.

Whereas Moulin was written directly for the screen by the bizarre director Baz Luhrmann, Chicago is directly adapted from one of Bob Fosse’s biggest successes. With music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, Chicago is a feast for the ears, but like nearly all musicals, has its share of duds. “Cell Block Tango” and “All That Jazz” are pitch-perfect with wonderful visuals to go along. Meanwhile, “Funny Honey” and “Razzle Dazzle” are pastiche.

Director Rob Marshall and writer Bill Condon, both children of the New York theater, bring Chicago the flare everyone expects from its theatrical productions. The movie certainly feels like a filmed stage show but that is an entirely appropriate feel when considering the style chosen. An emcee (Taye Diggs) even introduces the various musical numbers.

Chicago began an era that quickly killed itself. It seems inconceivable that we’ll have a sustained period of musicals on the big screen that can equate to the era between and including West Side Story and Cabaret. However, we can hope that Chicago is the sort of benchmark that other films must exceed in order to consider this a true revival.

-Wesley Lovell (December 19, 2006)

Update: In one of those rare occurrences, a review which I had thought lost and thus written a new one (above) has been found. Below follows my original review of the film Chicago.

The Hollywood musical is on an upswing as the latest Broadway adaptation, “Chicago”, hits the big screen.

“Chicago” stars Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, an impressionable young woman whose dreams of becoming a cabaret performer are dashed when after killing her lover, she ends up in jail where her idol Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has been incarcerated for a similar crime.

There she meets an assorted cast of characters all having killed their husbands in some unique way as we discover through the musical number “Cell Block Tango”. Desperately wanting to get out of jail, she convinces hotshot lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to act as her defense attorney. Known for getting beautiful women off death row and back into the streets, Billy uses various tactics, including creating awareness and sympathy in the media, to stay a conviction. Roxie becomes an instant media icon and, without leaving prison, achieves her dream of fame.

The block is run by hard-nosed Matron ‘Mama’ Morton (Queen Latifah) who loves her charges and will do anything for some of them, including her favorite Velma. While Roxie’s in jail, her husband, Amos (John C. Reilly), remains as faithful as ever despite the hint that he’s no longer wanted, except as a ploy.

Being a musical, “Chicago” needs its tune-filled numbers to act as story-telling points and, overall, the breadth of the story is told in them. From the opening number “And All That Jazz” to the closing “Nowadays”, each number is crisp, original and fun. The film itself takes place in real settings for the most part with several shifts in scene to a nightclub where the bandleader, played by Taye Diggs, introduces each subject as if it were a vaudeville act. This unique approach makes “Chicago” one of the most original films in recent memory.

Much like its musical predecessor “Moulin Rouge”, “Chicago” helps revive a genre that has been long missing from the filmmaking world. These musicals, however, have done different things for the scene, bringing the formerly long-winded narratives to a modern audience in a fast-paced, interesting way. As “Evita” proved, the long, history-sprawling epic musical, while as enjoyable as it always was, has fallen into a place lost to memory.

Musical numbers are important, but it’s the performances of those singing that helps “Chicago” achieve greatness. Zellweger shows us a side she’s never displayed, one that is risqué and dangerous with a hint of that innocence that made her a success. Zeta-Jones strips off the fancy gowns and romantic style and gives us a gritty and tantalizing portrayal of the murderess Velma Kelly, a role that most would never have imagined. Fighting it out for best female performance of the film is the equally talented Latifah who gives haunting portrayal of a lonely prison matron who must live her life vicariously through her prisoners.

The feminine side of the film is quite impressive, but so is the masculine. Gere, whose recent performances have been wooden and unenergetic, is here dazzling as the witty lawyer whose own clients are sometimes smarter than he is. His opening number saying he’s only in the business for love is a crowd-pleasing and surprising performance. Hard to top any of the performances, the best act in the entire film is the fantastic Reilly as the embittered husband who unknowingly acts as a pawn for Billy and Roxie’s defense plea. His piece acts as the emotional anchor for the picture. His is the role that remains human to a fault. His singular performance of “Mr. Cellophane” is incredibly touching, giving the audience a true understanding of what the people who take the back tent at the media circus go through.

Director Rob Marshall made some excellent choices in his rendering of Bill Condon’s adaptation of the Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb musical. With music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Marshall turns “Chicago” into a mesmerizing glance at a history where women were killing their husbands and just starting to face the music for their deeds. His choice of blending stage settings and real-world locales is original and clever.

“Chicago” is a fun and glorious romp through the prohibition era with a bevy of talented individuals. The entire show is a crowd-pleasing success that revitalizes a film style that should never have abated.

Review Written

January 25, 2003