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What a fun movie! Renee Zellweiger singing. Richard Gere tapdancing. A superb cast with hidden talents. And who knew? Chicago a smash hit! Well . . . everyone. Chicago, for anyone unfamiliar with the story, is about a wannabe star, Roxie Hart (Zellweiger) who shoots her lover and lands up on trial for murder. Billy Flynn (Gere) plays her defence lawyer. Also in Roxie’s cellblock is Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones), a former star act also on trial for murder. The story is simple on its surface. The singing and dancing numbers are what dazzle, and ultimately what make the movie so successful. The challenge faced in adapting a musical play to the silver screen is a formidable one: while it’s perfectly natural and accepted for actors to break out into song and dance spontaneously on stage, it seems a bit incongruous at times in the movies. In Chicago, the movie gets around this tricky problem seamlessly, by placing itself firmly in Roxie’s head. Roxie is a woman who escapes reality by fantasizing about super-stardom, so her envisioning of every scene as an act from a show not only makes the musical numbers fit the movie, it also builds dimension to her character. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this movie was seeing actors such as Gere and Zellweieger in roles that we may have never expected. The closest I’ve ever heard Renee Zellweiger come to singing before was her (purposley) god-awful performance in Bridget Jones’ Diary. As for Richard Gere, seeing the respected actor make his entrance into the movie doing a musical number in which he strips down to his boxers was laugh-out-loud funny. Chicago delivers on every front, from musical numbers to acting performances to costumes and sets. The singing, the dancing, the showmanship, and All That Jazz . . . Chicago has it all.
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