CHICAGO (2002) |
| Starring
Renée
Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C.
Reilly, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Christine Baranski, Domenic
West, Susan Misner, Deidre Goodwin, Denise Faye, Ekaterina Chtchelkanova,
Chita Rivera and Mýa Harrison.
Screenplay
by Bill Condon.
Directed by Rob
Marshall.
Distributed by Mirimax Pictures. 113 minutes. Rated
PG-13. |
|
Chicago
A film version of Bob
Fosse's 1975 musical Chicago has been on the back burner in Hollywood
for years. The 1996 Broadway revival with Bebe Neuwirth made the buzz
even bigger, with Madonna and other actresses briefly reported to be
involved. But still, nothing came of these starts, and the film probably owes finally getting made to the
popularity of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. The nice surprise is
how much better a film Chicago is than Moulin Rouge. The
choreography is strongly translated from the late Fosse's stage version to
the screen, and the songs work in the context of the story in a way the
music of Moulin Rouge never really did. (This project was
apparently offered to Luhrmann before he did Moulin, but he demurred,
saying he could never do Fosse justice.)
Chicago is a story of
music and murder and tabloid fame set in the end of the jazz age, but its
story is even more trenchant with today's everyone's-a-celebrity mindset.
Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones play Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly,
singers who get arrested for murder and use the attending celebrity of their
trials to further their musical careers. Velma is already as star, but
Roxie is a less talented wanna-be. However, the tables get turned when
Roxie's story of a proper country girl seduced by jazz and liquor steals the
spotlight from flapper Velma's crime of passion. They are both
represented by silver-tongued lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), a shameless
but charming showman who will do anything to get his clients off... and to
keep himself in the headlines.
The biggest surprise here is what a
damned good singer and dancer Catherine Zeta-Jones is. Her take on
Velma Kelly is a stunning success, capturing both the hardened bitterness of
the woman and the spectacular talent that made her a star to begin with. Renée Zellweger's
song and dance abilities are more earthbound, she can sing and dance pretty
well but not spectacularly. But that works with her character, a woman
of modest talent who is relies on notoriety for a song and dance career
because she can't get it on her talent alone. Other surprises are the
vocals by Queen Latifah as Big Mama, the head of the cell block, and John C.
Reilly, who does a surprisingly supple turn on his spotlight tune "Mr.
Cellophane." But the real show-stopper here is Zeta-Jones ecstatic
performance of "And All That Jazz." Chicago is the best proof
in years that the live-action musical film can still be a vital film genre. (12/02)
Jay
S. Jacobs
Copyright
©2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: 1/26/2003. |
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Copyright
©2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: 1/26/2003.
|
