6 Academy Award winning movie Chicago, based on the stage musical written by Bob Fosse which has been running in the West End and on Broadway forever finally made it into a movie. Made by Walt Disney Studios and directed by the fantastic Rob Marshall (Memoirs of a Geisha) this movie made a smooth transition from stage to screen effortlessly. Not since Moulin Rouge have we seen a decent musical come to the big screen.
Set in 1920's Chicago, the 'bit on the side' of Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) is murdered; she is thrown in jail with Chicago's most famous singing murderess Velma Kelly - played by the brilliant Catherine Zeta Jones. Roxie realises , through Velma's meteoric fame since being accused of murder, that she could reach her ambitions of being a famous singer/dancer. So they compete with the towns spin doctor of a lawyer - Billy Flynn, player by Richard Gere. All the stars - although before watching it you wouldn't believe they can all sing and dance, fare well in this movie. Richard Gere's character is a lawyer - which as you would imagine fits well with his 'image' and previous characters. But the singing and dancing all the over the top bits are transferred into 'dream sequences' to make the movie flow. So he is singing and tap dancing, and although you giggle when you first hear him, I know I did, you warm to his 'dream' character, despite the singing and dancing!
Catherine ZJ is a fantastic actress and shows it in this movie, even though not as small and dainty as Zellweger she kicks butt. Velma, in my experience at the theatre has always been larger than the Roxie character, so this fits well with Fosse's vision and also what happens on the stage. What was new was Mama Morton, who as far as I have ever seen, has always been a Caucasian woman (think Alison Moyet). This role was reprised by Queen Latifah - Unusual choice, however a marvellous piece of casting. She was butch, with a slightly lesbian tendencies, greedy, but compassionate matron of the prison who would help the ladies get out- as long as she was remunerated for it! The one song - which was a favourite of mine - which was cut from the final cut of the movie was 'Class' some call it dull, but it shows the relationship between Latifah's and ZJ's characters to a tee and raises a few laughs as well. Excellent catchy songs which will make you itch to see the stage production.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Music / Performing Arts, Comedy - Director: Trevor Nunn, Geoffrey Posner - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, Parental Guidance - Starring: Duncan Preston, Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Victoria Wood, Jim Broadbent
Jan 27th, 2009
helpful by (100%):
