Rob Marshall’s
”
Chicago
”
is a glorious musical, which is cause for celebration. We get so
few true musicals these days, so the film is a welcome return to a
genre that spawned so many classics in Hollywood’s golden age.
Rob Marshall’s “Chicago” is a glorious musical, which is cause for celebration. We get so few true musicals these days, so the film is a welcome return to a genre that spawned so many classics in Hollywood’s golden age.
It’s an inspired film, one that weaves many thematic elements into the drama that fits in between the songs, including envy, betrayal, revenge, violence, intolerance, corruption and greed. It all makes for a tuneful, satisfying entertainment.
“Chicago” has a feverish pace and doesn’t let up on the action for a moment. The costumes, makeup and choreography are stunning, as is the period of Chicago in the 1920s, made all the more plausible by its realistic depression-era setting.
Rob Marshall also has put together a terrific cast, headed by the dynamic Renee Zellweger as the murderess Roxie Hart, Catherine Zeta-Jones as her rival Velma Kelly, complemented by Richard Gere, who plays Roxie’s lawer Billy Flynn. The two women move the film; they give the picture the kick it needs. Jones is a fiery dancer with attitude to boot.
Zellweger’s role is more challenging, and she nails it, dropping about 20 pounds for the dance sequences and providing the natural emotion needed to convey her character’s plight.
The story is conveyed in a very theatrical way, with the band leader (Taye Diggs) introducing us to the thematic elements of the story, letting us know what to expect and cluing us into some of the lessons we will learn, which gives way to Roxie (Zellweger) pumping lead into the belly of her cheating lover, Fred (Dominic West).
Roxie’s dim-witted husband, Amos (John C. Rielly), decides to take the rap for his wife, but soon tells the authorities the truth, which leads to Roxie’s arrest. Upon entering jail, Roxie is protected by the matron, Mama Morton (Queen Latifah), and also meets a fellow inmate, a dancer whose act she adores named Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Fearing the worst, Roxie hires the best attorney in town to defend her, the enigmatic Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). Flynn suggests that Roxie publicize the aftermath of the murder, hoping that the public will sympathize with her. The sale of the story also could bring her big money, Flynn argues, because the public looks at murder as an electrifying form of entertainment.
The plan works, with Roxie pushing her rival Velma off the front page of the tabloid newspapers. Unfortunately, her story becomes second-page fodder when an even more notorious high-class woman named Kitty (Lucy Liu) commits a murder that commands front page, tabloid attention. The recent high-profile celebrity murder cases of Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson bring a startling comparison to the plight of these women who do bad things, only to try to use the system to get out of having to pay for what they did.
The musical numbers are phenomenal and come out of the imaginations of the characters who are performing them. The numbers are dark and surreal and help give information that fleshes out the film’s story. Gere, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones all prove to be as talented with their voices and their feet as they are with their reading of lines.
“Chicago” proves that the musical is not dead, and with the recent success of “Moulin Rouge,” perhaps we’ll see a major revival of the form. “Chicago” is better than “Moulin Rouge,” but is not quite up to par with “Cabaret” or “All That Jazz.” But this is minor quibbling, because “Chicago” is glorious entertainment, a movie that appeals to the singer and dancer in all of us.
CHICAGO. Directed by Rob Marshall. Written by Bill Condon, from the stage musical by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. With Renee Zellweger, Catherine-Zeta Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Rielly, Christine Baranski and Taye Diggs. Rated PG-13 (language, mature themes). Now playing at Bay Area theaters.
