Chicago (2002)
musical drama
directed
by : Rob Marshall
featuring
: Catherine Zeta Jones - Renee Zellweger - Richard Gere - Queen Latifah
- John C.Reilly
running
time : 1 hour 53 minutes
A starry-eyed would-be star discovers just
how far the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" can go
in this screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Chicago, originally
directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse. In the mid-'20s, Roxie Hart (Renee
Zellweger) is a small-time chorus dancer married to a well-meaning dunderhead
named Amos (John C.Reilly). Roxie is having an affair on the side with
Fred Casley (Dpminic West), a smooth talker who insists he can make her
a star. However, Fred strings Roxie along a bit too far for his own good,
and when she realizes that his promises are empty, she becomes enraged
and murders Fred in cold blood. Roxie soon finds herself behind bars alongside
Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta Jones), a sexy vaudeville star who used to
perform with her sister until Velma discovered that her sister had been
sleeping with her husband. Velma shot them both dead, and, after scheming
prison matron "Mama" Morton hooks Velma up with hotshot lawyer Billy Flynn
(Richard Gere), Velma becomes the new Queen of the scandal sheets. Roxie
is just shrewd enough to realize that her poor fortune could also bring
her fame, so she convinces Amos to also hire Flynn. Soon Flynn is splashing
Roxie's story -- or, more accurately, a highly melodramatic revision of
Roxy's story -- all over the gutter press, and Roxy and Velma are soon
battling neck-to-neck over who can win greater fame through the headlines.
A project that had been moving from studio to studio since the musical
opened on Broadway in 1973, Chicago also features guest appearances by
Lucy Liu and Christine Baranski.
If Moulin Rouge heralded the triumphant
return of the movie musical, Rob Marshall's rhapsodic rendition of Chicago
takes that tendency a welcome two-step further. Using the best capabilities
of both stage and screen, Marshall mounts a rousing cinematic achievement
that may trump Baz Luhrmann's -- he's filmed a conventionally structured
musical that needs no tricks, only its own tight mechanics, to reach across
generations of moviegoers. A Broadway chestnut written in the 1970s about
the 1920s may not seem ripe with 21st century relevance, but an astonishing
cast of performers breathes new excitement into the lyrics and music of
John Kander and Fred Ebb and the swagger of playwright/choreographer Fosse.
And in Chicago, "performer" is no term of backhanded praise. Zellweger,
Zeta Jones, and Gere sing every impressive note and cut every impressive
groove across each dance floor, their heretofore unknown talents prompting
bouts of surprised applause throughout the audience. That they deliver
award-worthy acting on top of it is a bonus. But Chicago is as much a triumph
of editing as any other attribute. The production numbers run steadily
throughout, so Marshall deftly weaves expository passages into the score's
quieter moments, the lyrics and images offering a perfect symbiosis of
storytelling methods.
Martin Walsh's editing also gets its own chance at
center stage, notably during the thrilling sequence in which Gere's climactic
courtroom speech alternates with footage of the actor engaged in a rapid-fire
tap dance. That Chicago also functions as a familiar but juicy indictment
of the bloodthirsty media and its fickle readership...well, it leaves a
reviewer about as breathless as Zeta Jones after a spirited romp across
the set.