Chicago
Rated: PG-13
During this awards season, you’re gonna see one film pop up again and again as a winner. That film is Chicago and for once we have an award-winning film that deserves to win. Chicago not only has amazing (and sometimes surprising) performances from its cast, inventively choreographed dance routines, and sexiness to spare, but the film also has great themes of demagoguery, corruption, and the public’s thirst for entertainment. Hell, the latter’s why we go to movies in the first place, isn’t it? 
For those of you unfamiliar with the plot, here’s a brief rundown: It’s 1920s Chicago and the air is filled with liquor and jazz (mmm…jazz). Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) kills her lover after he confesses he was just using her for sex instead of trying to get her singing career off the ground. Her poor shlub husband (John C. Reilly) still pays for a hot shot lawyer (Richard Gere) to try and save Roxie from the gallows. During her time in prison, Roxie’s fame begins to rise, much to the dismay of another jazz-singer/killer, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Through Roxie’s eyes we see the real-world 1920s mixed with show-stopping musical numbers. Frighteningly, aside from a little razzle dazzle, there’s not much difference between the two world. What ensues is rivalry, deception, lust, sadness, and all that jazz. I have to admit that I was incredibly wary going into this film. I dreaded a reappearance of Moulin Rouge, a musical more intent on inducing epilepsy than actually being a good musical. Then Chicago starts and launches into a fantastic musical number. And then the next number is even better. And then the next number is even better. You hit the “Cell Block Tango” see the sheer originality, sexiness, and power, and say, “well, it hit its peak only thirty minutes into the film. That’s a shame”. And then “They Both Reached for the Gun” tops it. And then “Mr. Cellophane” tops that. And then “Razzle Dazzle” tops that. I saw this film over a month ago and I still have the songs stuck in my head. And I’m not complaining. 
First, I have to applaud the amazing cast of this film. Before this film, I didn’t care too much about any of the main actors (with perhaps the exception of John C. Reilly). However, the entire cast blew me out of the water. Zellweger goes from being a naïve kid to a cold, manipulative bitch with such sexiness and grace it makes evil look so damn good. Zeta-Jones plays the perfect the rival for Zellweger as the two character scheme against each other. It looks like Reilly’s gonna get type cast as the dumb husband for the rest of his career, but here he plays it to heartbreaking perfection. “Mr. Cellophane” is his only song and he deserves his Best Supporting Actor nomination for those few minutes alone. But the real surprises are Gere and Queen Latifah. The former Living Single star impressed the hell out of me. She is not only sexy when it comes time for her musical number, but throughout the film she provides wonderful mix of charm and intimidation. Then there’s Gere. Before this film, I never saw why anyone gave a gerbil-crap about the man. He never impressed me much in any of his performances….until now. As Billy Flynn, Gere obviously has so much fun with the role. Yes, he really does his own tap dancing (yet another show stopping moment except without the benefit of lyrics). Yes, he did deserve the Golden Globe for Best Actor. And yes, let it be known, all the actors did their own singing. The men and women behind the camera also deserve a large amount of praise. Director Rob Marshall comes out of nowhere and delivers a film that’s not only highly entertaining; it’s really quite thought-provoking. I still can’t believe this is his first big movie. Martin Walsh should just get the Oscar now for his editing on this film. His work is so tremendous that I have no idea how a stage production would even work. And of course credit must go to writer Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) for breaking a beloved stage musical and then reconstructing it perfectly for the screen. I could go on and on about why this is my favorite film of 2002, but I’ll just move on and simply say, see this movie. Words by
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