Rating- * * * * (4/5)
I am not a fan of musicals. I haven’t seen many musicals, mostly because the genre died out in the late 1960s, and the ones I’ve seen are certainly not very bad movies in terms of story, music and style (White Christmas, The Sound of Music, West Side Story and handful of others). Musicals always seem so forced and cheesy to me, with a story going on and then people randomly breaking into a song and dance routine. When Moulin Rouge came along last year I was stunned and surprised at the inventive style that director Baz Luhrman applied to the musical genre and the result was a sort of surreal, post-modern fantasy with great music accompanying an interesting story without seeming forced. That same blending has been done here with the classic musical Chicago. The story involves a sort of media battle between two 1920s nightclub singers named Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renee Zelwegger). The two singers are both hauled into jail for murder and both take on the same hot-shot lawyer (Richard Gere), who has never lost a case. The two are also trying to use their trials to turn themselves into celebrities in hopes of making careers for themselves when they get out. As this story unfolds, some conversations and events occur in Roxie’s slightly insane mind as musical sequences. The film cuts back and forth between the real world and the jazz show going on in Roxie’s head. I am not a music critic but I have to say that some of the songs are extremely catchy and fun and the cast are all pretty good singers and dancers (yes, even Richard Gere!). Catherine Zeta-Jones is smokin’ hot in this movie and since she actually did start her career as a chorus line girl, she can sing and dance with the best of them. Zelwegger, who gets to have a lot more fun with her slightly insane character, can belt out those notes pretty well also, though she doesn’t do much dancing in the movie. Richard Gere, who apparently has some experience tap-dancing, turns in a surprisingly good performance and there are several times in the film when I actually forgot everything I knew about Richard Gere and just enjoyed his role, which is impressive for an actor that I actively dislike in real life. There is also a good supporting performance by John C. Reilly, one of the great character actors of the last decade, as Roxie’s innocent and gullible husband who gets suckered first into covering for her murder of her lover, then into paying her lawyer’s fee. Reilly’s one of the few guys that could pull off this role and make us really feel bad for the guy rather than laugh at him. In the end, this is just a fun musical without any deep human insight or earth-shattering new film techniques so I don’t think it will show up at the Oscars other than for its performances, but it is an extremely entertaining movie and one that is addictively watchable. I saw it with five girls who all loved it so I can definitely recommend this to my female audience, but I also would suggest the guys give it a try. If you liked Moulin Rouge, which a lot of guys did, and you don’t mind watching some great-looking women dancing in lingerie, you would probably get some entertainment out of Chicago. As for the average moviegoer, do yourself a favor and check this one out; it’s classic American entertainment at its best.