Chicago Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)January 22nd, 2003
CHICAGO
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: The big, brash Broadway musical comes to
the screen with a film that gives the impression
of what made it popular on the stage but does not
really recreate it. Sadly, the play was written
as a showcase for choreography and Bob Fosse's
fancy footwork has been largely supplanted by
fancy editing. Queen Latifah belting out "When
You're Good to Mama" is the musical high-point of
the film. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
My first few days of this year were spent in friendly debate with a friend over the merits and failings of the musical MOULIN ROUGE! and the supposed superiority, as he saw it, of the film of CHICAGO. My friend complained about Baz Luhrmann's technique of showing the dancing in short, choppy cuts. If I wanted to see how to film a musical I should see CHICAGO. I am grateful to my friend for sensitizing me to this issue, but I conclude from watching the dance sequences that much the same editing style was used in both films. Watching CHICAGO one is very hard-put to find any takes of duration greater than two seconds, maybe ffity frames. And the editing style may be used for the same reason. Each gives a rapid-fire montage to create a sense of excitement about each film's particular setting and time period.
The impression one gets is that one is looking at the actions from one angle and then another, much like live television going from one camera to another. In fact, pieces are juxtaposed that could have been filmed hours or even months apart. Much more of the meter and flow are created by the editor than by the dancer. Big-name stars can do their own dancing by learning two steps at a time, having them filmed, and then forgetting about them and learning the next two steps. Those short clips can then be edited together to make them seem like one long routine. While CHICAGO features Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere all apparently dancing skillfully, only Zeta-Jones had formal training as a dancer prior to this film and it shows. Bob Fosse specifically wrote CHICAGO to be a showcase for his style of dancing and we do not really see it in this film.
The story of the Roxie Hart's sensational killing of Fred Casely in Chicago made headlines in the 1920s and the incident was adapted into a play. In 1927, the play was the basis for the film CHICAGO. William Wellman remade CHICAGO in 1942, calling it ROXIE HART. Bob Fosse took the story and made it into the lush Broadway musical. Seventy-five years after the first film version of the story, Bob Fosse's play has been made into a movie one more time.
The story is fairly simple. Showgirl Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) kills her lover and convinces her husband Amos (John C. Reilly) to say he did it. She is found out and put in prison under corrupt matron 'Mama' Morton (Queen Latifah). Historically, having a black prison matron in the 1920s is questionable, but when audiences see the performance, I don't think they will mind a bit. In prison Roxie finds herself competing with another murderess, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta- Jones). Richard Gere plays Billy Flynn, Roxie's defense attorney. He knows that she is guilty, but as the tagline says, "Anywhere else it would be a crime, but this is Chicago."
Renee Zellweger shakes her shy-girl image but is just not very absorbing playing Roxie as a not-too-bright blonde. Catherine Zeta-Jones can dance but the 1920s fashions do not suit her personality well. Gere is about the right combination of smooth, vain, and a little slimy. Frequently, pop music stars are cast in films because their has marquee value. They then fade quickly from sight. Queen Latifah seems to get better and better as an actress. In CHICAGO she is captivating in ways that the three nominal leads cannot touch. Latifah is a real scene-stealer and her "When You're Good to Mama" is probably the most memorable song in the film. The film is directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall who also directed ANNIE for television. While the movements are not so sinuous as we would have with Bob Fosse, the idea is there. John Myhre's production design gives a very 1920s atmosphere to the entire proceedings. Danny Elfman did the composing for the new music.
CHICAGO is a vigorous and creative musical made all the more notable by the current dearth of cinematic musicals being produced. It is a reminder that the genre of the movie musical is not dead, but merely sleeping. I give it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected]
Copyright 2003 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
