Yar, you be here: Chicago (Full Screen Edition) > Customer Reviews

Chicago (Full Screen Edition) Customer Reviews (94 - 96 of 120 Reviews)

Exotic, Sultry, Exuberant and Marvelous!
Simply put, this is not your grandmother's type of musical. It's a musical about women who kill.. their boyfriends, their husbands, their sisters and whoever may have wronged them. And when they relate their stories in the show stopping performance of the Cell Block Tango, you quickly discover that the sultry ladies of the Cook County Jail have standards that differ from those of 'polite' society. They are not very likely to win points of sympathy. So it's from this rather questionable basis that Chicago goes on to become a richly exuberant and incredibly entertaining movie musical.

If building a musical around a collection or cold-blooded killers, their shyster attorneys, corrupt authorities and scandal feeding tabloid press seems a bit specious for today's sensibilities, consider how Broadway of the Sixties reacted to an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that substituted street gangs of New York's West Side for the Montagues and the Capulets. And Bob Fosse's Chicago is every bit the ground breaker that Jerome Robbin's West Side Story ever was.

Director Rob Marshal brings Chicago to the screen with a style that sacrifices none of the stage play's energy; and in many ways enhances it with fast paced editing that pulls the viewer along on a thrill ride of music and dancing. I confess that when I heard of the casting for this production, my first thought was 'the studio execs have sunk another one.' After all, Catherine Zeta-Jones is gorgeous, Renee Zellweger can be cute and Richard Gere is always adequate as the eye candy for females, but these were all demanding roles that require singing and dancing as well as acting! But I stand corrected. Ms. Zeta-Jones steals the show as the exotic Velma Kelly, with a singing and dancing ability that never disappoints. Zellweger brings just a hint of sympathy to the ambitiously scheming Roxy Hart, and reveals a surprisingly good singing voice. And last but not least, who ever knew that Richard Gere sings, much less tap dances?

The supporting cast members grab even the smallest roles and imbue them with flair and excitement. John C. Reilly as Roxy's cuckolded husband and Queen Latifah as the matron of the cell block add depth to an already rich collection of performances, along with other gems from Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu.

Admittedly, story line is razor thin. Roxy wants to be a star. She murders her boyfriend, ends up in jail with Velma (the type of star Roxy always wanted to be), and engages the services of Billy Flynn the flamboyant, press-hungry lawyer. But there isn't a bad song in the entire production. It's the most exuberant movie soundtrack in years if not decades! Last but not least, there is the choreography. It's sexy and fresh as can be, without quite crossing into the territory of vulgar. From All that Jazz, to the Cell Block Tango to the Finale, you'll be left breathless and applauding!

Rob Marshall should give some nods to Baz Luhrmann
As you probably know, this musical is from a 70's stage production of the late and entirely great Bob Fosse ("All That Jazz" was a semi-biographical flick about Fosse starring Roy Scheider in the lead role). Basically, it is a story revolving around two women who literally get away with murder and profit from their publicity (the movie's tagline is "If you can't be famous, be infamous"). I'll bet they had a ball making this movie. Apparently, Gere actually learned to tap dance. Zellweger worked her butt off. It must have been a doddle for Zeta-Jones, as her roots are in the stage, singing and dancing. John C. Reilly gives a fabulous performance, and I was thrilled to see him nominated for an Oscar (he's done so many great films this past year that it'd be a shame to see this highly underrated actor get passed up yet again). A highly enjoyable film and a great soundtrack.

However, it goes without saying that "Chicago" owes a big fat "cheers" to Baz Luhrmann and the "Moulin Rouge!" crew. That musical really paved the way for the (undoubtedly) myraids of musicals yet to come.

A Modern Classic
When the musical Chicago first debuted on Broadway in 1975, it was condemned by many for its irresponsible portrayal of the criminal justice system as a three ring circus. Contemporary audiences were unaccustomed to watching murder and corruption presented as sources of entertainment and Bob Fosse's production closed after a scant two year run. Thankfully, the passage of time has vindicated the show. In a post-OJ Simpson world, this story of two jazz age women who bump off their respective lovers, manipulate the masses, and ultimately achieve fame in vaudeville is now a pertinent and perceptive send-up of modern American justice in action. Director Rob Marshall fully captures the relevance and excitement of the piece in a sparkling and thoroughly entertaining new movie adaptation that overflows with showmanship and satire.

Although Marshall was questioned by many for his decision to cast A-list Hollywood celebrities in roles that required proficient singers and dancers, his choices have proven to be uniformly sound. In the role of Roxie Hart, an aspiring performer who is arrested for brutally murdering her deceitful boyfriend, Renee Zellwegger succeeds in humanizing a basically heartless and amoral vixen. By investing the character with naiveté and a poignant desire to achieve stardom at any cost, Zellwegger gives Roxie a vulnerability that allows us to forgive her sins and applaud her pluck and determination. She contrasts beautifully with Catharine Zeta-Zones, who exudes pure elegance and cynicism as murderous dancer Velma Kelly. Zeta-Jones has genuine experience performing on stage, and her skill is readily apparent in her showstopping renditions of the songs "All that Jazz" and "I Can't do it Alone." Finally, Richard Gere is charismatic and uncharacteristically enthusiastic as Billy Flynn, the shyster lawyer who gets Roxie and Velma off the hook. Gere's singing is surprisingly smooth, and his attempt at tap dancing is one of the film's most charming highlights.

Marshall has cleverly staged most of John Kander and Fred Ebb's stirring musical numbers as daydreams or fantasies that reflect the emotions of the characters or the circumstances they find themselves in. In "We Both we Reached for the Gun," Marshall depicts the gullibility of the press by showing reporters dancing on marionette strings (controlled by puppeteer Flynn) listening to Roxie's justification for her crime. In the touching "Mr. Cellophane," Roxie's loyal but perpetually overlooked husband Amos (a winning John C. Reilly) appears on an imaginary stage to sing about his frustration at being ignored by everyone who meets him. And in "Razzle Dazzle" the circus-like atmosphere of the courtroom is aptly presented as Flynn sings and dances in a ringmaster's outfit while chorus girls carry evidence that will ensure Roxie's acquittal.

To describe Chicago as the best musical of the last twenty years is probably an underhanded compliment, considering that its competition is overproduced spectacles (last year's Moulin Rouge) and horrifyingly banal miscalculations (Newsies anyone?). Instead, I will state that the film is unequivocally one of the best movies of 2002 and one of the most enjoyable rentals that video stores are currently providing. And that's something to sing about!

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

Next Page