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Fantasizing about becoming a vaudeville star, married woman Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) gives
sexual favors to a furniture salesman Fred Casely (Dominic West) who promises to bring her to stardom. When he cruelly rejects her, she shoots him dead.
Reigning vaudeville queen Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) catches her husband and her sister doing something in-laws aren't supposed to do, so she shoots him deadand her sister, too. The two murderesses come face to face with each other in a county jail and even come to share the services of the same lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) who is more of a slick agent than an astute attorney.
There's never a dull moment in this story which is based on the real-life 1924 murder trials
of two women who were eventually acquitted of their alleged crimes. Lightweight, lighthearted and lurid, the story fired up the original production of Chicago which opened
in 1975 and has electrified theaters ever since its 1997 restaging on Broadway. Year 2002's Chicago
polishes to high gloss the heretofore hidden talents of its three stars Gere, Zeta-Jones and Zellweger in the sing-and-dance arena. While not exactly at breakneck speed, the production numbers leave the audience nearly breathless and begging for morewho cares whether they're after the story, the music or the choreography? Director Rob Marshall's pacing is flawless and enhanced by a racy script, lyrics that push the plot, and editing that clips the film not one millimeter more or less than perfection. Casting is superb, and acting?we can't ask for more. Now, so much for techniques.
The problem with extremely entertaining musicals like Chicago
is: the consequences for illegal behavior are diminished amidst all that eye candy. Murder, adultery, bribery, blackmail, forgery, perjury, illegal use of alcohol, not to mention fornication for success, are the crimes/sins in
Chicago that may be taken a tad too lightly due to their enjoyable packaging. If Chicago had been a melodrama instead of a musical, Roxie Hart would be a
pathetic bunch of obsessions, lying in bed with a lover then lying in court, sleeping her way to success, all in pursuit of a dream that she has meager talents for.
Vaudeville queen Velma Kelly would be an opportunist and a mercenary riding on Roxie's tabloid fame to further her career. Lawyer Billy Flynn would be an egoist who manipulates the legal system to allow murderers to go scot-free, all for a $5,000 fee. He is the character who says "murder is a form of entertainment" and "the trial court is a three-ring circus" and boasts that if Jesus had had his fee, "things would have turned out different."
Musicals, particularly highly stylized ones like Chicago, definitely affect the way a
story is presented on film. This is something to discuss with the family, focusing on the shallow tabloid mentality, media manipulation of the public and the justice
system, the emptiness of success in the worldly sense, the cult of personality strongly upheld in so much of today's media, and other themes a discerning viewer may discover
in the film.
(Date Reviewed: March 14, 2003)
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