I knew it was a fated project from the moment I heard rumors of Richard Gere in tap shoes.
Despite quality performances by Queen Latifah and the ubiquitous John C. Reilly, "Chicago" is not everything it has been hyped to be. Don't get me wrong -- the film is highly entertaining and filled with catchy, flashy, exuberant musical numbers that will have you dancing in your seat. Yet somehow Renee Zellweger's performance as Roxie Hart fails to deliver, leaving me wondering why she was ever cast in the role in the first place.
Director Rob Marshall's Hollywood adaptation of the hit Broadway musical is based on Bob Fosse's 1975 stage version of the show and stays loyal to the original score. Famous numbers such as "All that Jazz" and "Razzle-Dazzle" still resonate magically in the ears and hearts of audience members as they have for 30 years on the stage.
The film tells the story of two women in 1920s Chicago and their flirtation with fame, fraud and murder. Cheating wife Roxie Hart and betrayed vaudeville dancer Velma Kelly sit in jail, reflect on their naughty pasts and contemplate their uncertain futures. The action fluctuates between the courtroom and the jail cell, interrupted by musical scenes that take place both on the vaudeville stage and in Roxie Hart's mind. In fact, the film does what the stage show cannot: it juxtaposes the images of fanciful musical numbers occurring in Roxie Hart's vivid imagination with images of courtroom and jail-cell reality.
"Chicago" opens with Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) performing onstage as Roxie Hart admires her from the audience and dreams of a career as a sexy vaudeville star. But after being used and abused by a man, Hart shoots him and is soon thrown in a jail cell where she meets a group of other women who have also been locked up for murder. During the "Cell Block Tango," these scantily-clad women sing behind bars -- and in Roxie's imagination -- about their petty motives for killing their husbands.
The women are so energetic and dynamic in their singing and dancing that you almost forget that they are singing about cold-blooded murder. One wo-man even explains that she shot her husband because she was annoyed by the way he chewed his bubblegum. The scene is subtly comedic and aesthetically pleasing, especially for those who enjoy watching women in tight black leotards prance around on stage.
Zeta-Jones as usual oozes sex appeal, and yet her performance is cold and unconvincing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't still watching 2001's "America's Sweethearts" because she seemed to be playing exactly the same role, namely the cold, arrogant celebrity who will stop at nothing to get her way. Velma Kelly doesn't want to be upstaged by Roxie Hart, and like a drooling bulldog she tries to mark her territory as Chicago's sexiest female star. Yet Roxie Hart soon proves too quick for Velma as she gradually works her way into the courtroom, onto the front page of all the tabloids and into the hearts of Chicagoans. She fails, however, to make her way into my critical heart given Zellweger's shallow, unemotional portrayal of a character whose intended innocent-yet-sexy act becomes a cold melange of fake smiles and unper-suasive feelings.
Roxie brings along for the ride her kind yet wimpy schmuck of a husband, Amos, played to perfection by Reilly, who has once again found himself in the kindly-husband-unappreciated-by-his-distressed-wife role he mastered last year in "The Hours" and "The Good Girl." He is perfectly cast as Roxie's deluded, puppy-dog-faced husband who continues to believe in her and love her even as she constantly slaps him in the face.
Queen Latifah also gives a stunning performance as jail matron "Mama Morton" and sheds her hard-core hip-hop image for a lighter, more emotional role that proves she really is queen of her throne. Latifah is brilliant as the strict yet gentle, hard yet sensitive maternal figure for the lovely ladies who have landed behind bars. Her powerful rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" puts us in a trance and proves that Latifah has gracefully crossed the border dividing rap star and talented actor -- yes, Mr. Mathers, you have company across that 8 Mile Road of yours.
As for Richard Gere in tap shoes, he might have been better off putting on sneakers and making like the "Runaway Bride." Yet apparently Gere had something to prove and hesitantly accepted the role of Billy Flynn, a hotshot lawyer who has never lost a case and agrees to represent Roxie Hart as she pleads her innocence to the people of Chicago. Gere, in his flashy suits, greased hair and the sarcastic smirk we all know and love (or loved until he put those tap shoes on) is good-looking as Mr. Flynn, yet terribly unconvincing.
There has been so much hype associated with this film that it's made out to be Hollywood's greatest gift to mankind, but it just doesn't live up to those expectations. "Chicago" is a good film, but hardly a cinematic or musical masterpiece. The songs of Kander and Ebb and nearly flawless performances by Reilly and Latifah combine with superficially arrogant acting on the part of Gere, Zeta Jones and Zellweger to produce a good film that simply could have been better. See the film if you're dying to find out what all the hype is about or if you're interested in seeing how the Broadway show was adapted for the big screen. But if you're looking for quality, then find something with a little more jazz.
