Year:
2002
Studio:
Miramax Films
Movie:
2/5
DVD:
3/5
Chicago is a movie
I do not ever want to see again. It's a musical for one, but it's also
a musical where if you take out the music I don't like the story. And
that's because it's a satire and it's cynical and has a darker
underlying tone.
This is the story of Roxie Hart (Renée Zellwegger) who wants to
be a star. Unfortunately the man she's been sleeping with has been
lying to her about getting her into the biz and when he tries to leave
her she shoots him dead in a jealous rage. So now she's in the slammer
and lo and behold there's all this media attention.
In prison Roxie meets Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who is in the
pen for a double homicide -- she caught her sister and husband being
too friendly. Kelly and her sister were showbiz stars and even in
prison Kelly is famous.
Roxie wants that. First she gets her dull-witted husband, Amos (John C
Reilly), to spring the $5k to hire the best lawyer in town, Billy Flynn
(Richard Gere). And then she has to play her part and her cards right
to parlay the trial and publicity into fame.
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The best part
of the movie is watching movie stars sing and dance which they rarely
get to do and few can do in the first place. Listening to the
commentary, most actors already had broadway and musical experience.
But you never get to see that in movies because musicals are rarely
made into movies.
The DVD includes a 30-minute behind the scenes special which shows some
rehearsing and has clips with the actors and movie people. There is a
deleted musical performance with Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah. And
there is an audio commentary track with director Rob Marshall and
screenwriter Bill Condon. The commentary was fairly interesting.
Overall, hated the movie, liked the song and dance because of the
actors doing it, like the extras.
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