Chicago Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)December 20th, 2002
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Let me preface this review by saying I generally despise musicals in a very, very serious way. I still have nightmares about Moulin Rouge, and the mere thought of seeing The Producers on Broadway is nearly enough to make me vomit blood. I bought my mom the Sound of Music DVD last Christmas, with the caveat that she never, ever play it while I'm within a five-mile radius.
I don't know if I'm getting older or gayer or both, but there have actually been a couple of musicals I've enjoyed over the last couple of years. They were all unconventional, however, like Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the tuneful episodes of both Oz and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), so I'm not entirely sure they count. Still, I wouldn't know good singing and dancing if it crept up behind me and shouted, "Hello, gorgeous!"
That said, I found Rob Marshall's Chicago, which is a more conventional take on the movie musical, to be exhilarating and packed to the gills with amazing performances from its star-studded cast. Based on Bob Fosse's 1975 production (which, in turn, was based on a non-musical stage play from the '20s), the film seems as timely as ever by celebrating murderers and the manipulation of the legal system to foster celebrity. Then as well as now, doing shit you're not supposed to do gets you major media coverage (just ask O.J. Simpson, Monica Lewinsky, Winona Ryder and Trent Lott).
The aforementioned shit you're not supposed to do starts almost instantly in Chicago, as Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones, America's Sweethearts), one-half of the popular Kelly Sisters act, has just offed both her other half and her better half before hopping on stage and belting out a scintillating, smoke-and-gin-fueled version of "All That Jazz." Meanwhile, a far less successful entertainer named Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger, White Oleander) is getting "auditioned" by a man (Dominic West, HBO's The Wire) who says he can make her a big star. When Roxie finds out he's just stringing her along, she flies into a post-coital rage and kills him.
After an unsuccessful attempt to get her sad-sack husband Amos (John C. Reilly, Gangs of New York) to take the heat, Roxie is dragged off to prison where she encounters the now-larger-than-life Velma, whose double murder has been front-page tabloid fodder since her incarceration. Roxie strikes up a friendship with prison warden "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah, Brown Sugar), who suggests she hire undefeated defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere, Unfaithful), who guarantees he can get anyone off for $5,000. Trouble is, Flynn is already Velma's lawyer, and when he agrees to help Roxie, he turns her into the city's newest criminal star. This, of course, leads to a fair amount of jailhouse animosity between Velma and Roxie, though, sadly, not much pulling of hair, tearing of clothes or scratching of eyes. This Rob Marshall (he co-helmed the Broadway production of Cabaret with Road to Perdition director Sam Mendes) sure ain't no Russ Meyer.
Each of Chicago's many song-and-dance numbers is rooted entirely in the imagination of one of the film's characters, which is nice for two reasons: 1) It makes each one of them dark and surreal, and 2) They're all quite integral to the film's plot. The most visual of the lot is Flynn's press conference-turned-marionette performance (called "The Press Conference Rag"), but the song that sticks with you the longest is Reilly's heartbreaking "Mr. Cellophane" (don't worry - his voice is slightly better here than in Magnolia).
Because of the singing and dancing, Chicago's cast must pull off roles that are much more physically challenging than anything they're used to doing or we're used to seeing. Again, I wouldn't know if Richard Gere was tapdancing decently, or if Zeta-Jones's voice comes close to matching Chita Rivera's (she was the original Velma on stage, and has a cameo here), but it all seemed pretty incredible to me. Zellweger's part seemed the most challenging, both physically and emotionally, and I think she really nailed it - it's one of the year's best performances.
1:53 - PG-13 for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements
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