Ladies and gentlemen, please check your morals at the door! I saw Chicago the week it was released with a friend of mine. I picked the movie based on the fact that it was a musical...lets just say we were a bit scandalized by the time it was over. I suppose i should explain...main character Roxie (Zellweger) is a pretty, mechanics wife who dreams of showbiz. She starts messing around with a furniture salesman (Dominic West) who tells her he has connections and can get her a job singing at a bar. Within in the first few minutes of the film we learn that he lied just so she'd sleep with him. Roxie is so upset with him and mad at herself for believing him that she pulls her husbands gun and fires at him multiple times. When the police come she has her husband cover for her and say that the man was a robber and he shot him...after actually seeing the corpse he recognizes the man and he realizes what happened. Roxie is thrown in jail and confined to murders row where she meets the other women awaiting their murder trials. Among the women is actress Velma Kelly (Jones) who shot both her sister and husband (they were messing around and she caught them). After only a few talks the women realize they hate each other. The other colorful character are Momma Morton (Queen Latifah): the jailer who accepts bribes to make the prisoners more comfortable, Billy Flynn (Gere): the lawyer who hasn't lost a case (even if his methods are unconventional), Amos (John C. Reily): Roxie's simpleminded but sincere husband, and Mary Sunshine (Christine Baranski): the sentimental reporter who covers Roxie's case. While this film is a musical, director Rob Marshall chose to have all the musical numbers appear in Roxie's mind: she sees every interaction as a potential idea for a show. Introducing each of the numbers is the bandleader/pianist (played by Taye Diggs). Some of the scenes, such as the courtroom number "Razzle Dazzle", seem like daydreams.
The costumes show A LOT of skin, and no one shows remorse for their crimes or even hesitates to continue lying...it's hard to agree or even sympathize with the characters (in my opinion). Personally, the only character i like is Taye Diggs...but i like everything he's done so i suppose i'm biased. Anyway, you feel dirty after watching the film and incredibly guilty for actually enjoying watching it. If it wasn't a musical i probably wouldn't like it at all. Also, the original Velma Kelly (Chita Rivera), from the Broadway show, has a small cameo as a prisoner.
Watch while doing homework: personally i just like to watch the musical numbers
Rent it once: it's an interesting film, and worth seeing once, but just remember what it's about so you aren't shocked within the first 10 minutes
Chicago (2002) 113 minutes (PG-13)
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Renee Zellweger as Roxie
Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma
Richard Gere as Billy
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