Movies

Chicago Review

Director Rob Marshall’s “Chicago” is fabulous.  The Broadway musical has been brought to the screen with grand production numbers, wonderful costumes, great energy and a joy of performance.  The song and dance numbers alone are captivating to watch, but they have seamlessly been interwoven as “fantasy” accompaniments to further and enrich the storyline.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Velma Kelly, a song-and-dance star at the top of her game until she is arrested for the murder of her husband and co-star sister after catching them in a compromising position.  Renee Zellweger is Roxie Hart, a hopeful starlet with dreams of being a star performer like Velma.  After being betrayed by a lover who lied about his show business connections, Roxie also finds herself on death row for murder.  Enter Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), a confident, smooth-talking lawyer and master media manipulator who takes on both women’s cases.

The wonderful supporting cast includes Queen Latifah as “Mama” Morton, who runs the women’s prison in a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” manner.  John C. Reilly is Amos, Roxie’s cuckolded husband.  Reilly is always so wonderfully woeful in these roles of good-hearted lugs who are oblivious to the deceit of those around him.  

All of the aforementioned actors do their own singing and dancing.  Catherine Zeta-Jones is excellent, with a confident, strong voice and sassy attitude.  (With talent like this, it’s a shame she cheapens her image with her cellular phone commercials! )  Renee fares a little better with her dancing than with her singing, but she’s well-suited for the “wannabe” role.  Richard Gere does a surprisingly nice job, making up with charisma his shortcomings as a singer.  I don’t normally care for either Zellweger or Zeta-Jones, so it’s a testament to the movie’s strengths that I was still blown away.  The dance numbers reminded me a lot of “All That Jazz”, though it’s not nearly as dark as that great movie.  Following “Moulin Rouge”, one can only hope this continues a resurgence of the movie musical.  Can’t wait for the DVD.  

Overall Grade:  A