Chicago Review

Surfing the HD channel offerings last night, I found the movie Chicago. A musical released to great fanfare (and the winner of the Best Movie Academy Award) in 2002, Chicago is based on a Bob Fosse stage musical, which is in turn based on a short story from the 1920s.

Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) is a good girl who momentarily turns bad and kills her husband and her sister. Hauled off to jail, she is immediately threatened by the jail's manipulative matron Mama (Queen Latifah) and a brassy fellow inmate Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Roxie learns that her only chance to avoid hanging for her crime is to engage Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), a win-at-any-cost attorney who is not against manufacturing facts to fit his case.

With Billy Flynn at her side, Roxie wows the press with her claims of innocence and uses this celebrity to plan for a show business career when she is eventually freed from jail. Of course, Roxie has to get through Velma and Mama first, and there also could be competition from some new floozy who turns the head of the fickle press.

Threaded through the story are plenty of song-and-dance numbers that do more than provide moments of somewhat steamy entertainment. Most of the songs and dances in Chicago actually advance the story, so much so that they are an integral part of the film. Cut out a couple of songs and you will lose the thread of the plot. The singing and dancing is surprisingly good, too, all done by the primary actors. In particular, Catherine Zeta-Jones is knockout at both singing and dancing, and she's pretty darn easy on the eyes as well.

Chicago is definitely not for young kids and it's probably best for kids 14 and older. It has very adult themes, lots of skimpy costumes and song after song with suggestive words and dancing. However, there's no actual nudity and not much in the way of rough language. I found the film very entertaining, as did my wife.

I recommend Chicago. It's bright, brassy, interesting and a fun way to pass a couple of hours. It looked particularly good in HD, with strong primary colors and lots of spangly costumes.