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Actors: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Chicago |
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Roxie Hart killed her lover and is put on Murderess Row in Chicago. While in jail, her husband hires the best lawyer in town, Billy Flynn, who has never lost a case. Hart begins a sort of competition with Velma Kelly, who was awaiting trial for killing her husband and sister. In Chicago, there's only room for one Murderess/Singer and Hart and Kelly both want to be her!
--Colleen, Resident Scholar
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In this delightful musical, we meet Roxie Hart, a wanna-be star who is arrested for killing furniture salesman, Fred Casely. In prison, she meets Matron "Mama" Morton, who can get her anything...for a price. She then meets Billy Flynn, a slick-talking lawyer who can turn her into a star. She soon starts competing with idol, Velma Kelly for the spotlight, and an earliest possible trial date. Then, a woman performs a never-before-seen triple homicide, and becomes more popular. So, Roxie fakes having having a baby, and gets attention again. The songs are wonderful, and the ensemble cast is brilliant, especially Zellwegger, Gere, and Zeta-Jones. This is possibly the greatest musical experience, since Cabaret (another Fosse production).
--Estefan Ellison, Resident Scholar
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This film is based on the hit Broadway musical that also served as the inspiration for All That Jazz. Zeta-Jones and Zellweger portray two Chicago women who get sent to jail and run across a sultry guard (Latifah) there. All three put on spectacular performances in the film, and they make it a rather grand tribute to Broadway.
--Teddy, Resident Scholar
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Adultery, violence, obsession, and ambition are only an iota of descriptions to this wonderful and exciting movie set in Chicago in the Roaring 20s. Roxie Hart, an ambitious jazz singer, wants more than anything her own show. She gets tricked by furniture seller, Fred Casley, and drifts into an affair with him. Fred successfully lies to Roxie and gets her in bed. Later, Roxie discovers that Fred lied to her, and she shot and killed him without thinking. Roxie gets arrested and taken to the Cook County Jail. There, she meets the "six merry murderesses" there, as each one described how and why they killed their lovers. Among these was the famous jazz singer, Velma Kelly, in which Roxie already knew. Velma and Roxie are hard rivals together, competing for publicity and fame. Slowly, Velma becomes less famous as Roxie hires criminal lawyer Billy Flynn. Roxie and Velma are both declared innocent but begin to lose their popularity. Then, they both ally together to star in a show, what Roxie always wanted. This story brings happy endings for both Roxie and Velma.
--DW, Resident Scholar
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It's wild and woolly 1920s Chicago, and two women are behind bars, awaiting trial for the death penalty. Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) is an established nightclub star who found her twin sister and husband in bed and shot them; Roxanne Hart (Zellweger) is an aspiring performer who was having an affair with a galoot who welshed on his promise to get her into show business, so she shot him. Fast talking, smooth but venial attorney Billy Flynn (Gere) will work to get each of the girls off. A film of the long-running Bob Fosse musical based in turn on a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins and loosely inspired by true events, this 2002 film is a hoot. The sets, choreography, costuming, and vigorous camera work are all terrific, and the leads do their own credible dancing and singing. Supporting cast includes Queen Latifah as the scheming prison matron, John C. Reilly as Roxie's loser husband, Christine Baranski as reporter Mary Sunshine, Taye Diggs as a sort of ringleader-bandleader, and Lucy Liu in a bit role as yet another murderess. Great fun while it lasts.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Roxie Hart (Rene Zellweger) will do anything to become a famous vaudeville dancer, include having a wild affair with her furniture salesman thinking that he has connections in the industry. Only, when she discovers that he is a lying SOB he shoots him dead - landing her on "Murderess Row". The only sunshine in her life is that her idol, the infamous dancer/singer Velma Kelley (Catherine Zeta-Jones)who shot her husband and sister after discovering them "spread-eageled" together, is in the same prison as she is in.
In prison, Roxie meets Mama (Queen Latifah) who will do anything for her darlings stuck in prison - as long as they have the cash, and she introduces Roxie to Velma's hot-shot and flashy lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) who will try any unlucky woman's case for a mere $5,000.
The movie follows the 'razzle-dazzle' court room show that Billy directs and examines how far Roxie will go to keep her name in the papers.
--Jen Jen, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Chicago |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
Kind of comedy
- musical
How much humor v. drama
- Lot of humor, but significant serious drama
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
- wild
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- blonde
Hair type
- (woman) short/butch/lez
Body type
- (woman) skinny
Unclothed?
- Slightly see-through clothes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (woman) short/butch/lez
Unclothed?
- very tight clothes
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
City?
Yes
City:
- Chicago
Misc setting
- prison
- theater
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
- kissing
- sex under blankets
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
If lots of song/dance...
- lot of singing and dancing
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Broadway musical
Is this movie based on a
- play
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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