chicago
Directed by Rob Marshall
2003 12A/PG13
Chicago is a musical
(eek! Stay away kids, blame
Moulin
Rouge, the movie that single-handedly revived
the moribund idea of the singing and dancing
gig :) As I was saying, Chicago is a musical
set in the Jazz era in a certain American town.
I forget which, haha
Chicago is a movie that, though nowhere near
as great as Moulin Rouge! and much more vulgar,
is, even so, nearly as entertaining. Two singers
are sent to the slammer for murder. The movie
is about their rivalry, especially for the attentions
of a smart-arse lawyer who has never lost a
case.
I loved all the performances in this movie.
Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are pretty good as
Roxanne 'Roxie' Hart & Velma Kelly even
if sometimes the former does not seem to dance
very well. Zeta Jones is the mistress of the
art of portraying the bitchy chick, but Zellwegger
was more than up to the job. Richard Gere pulled
off the ostentatious lawyer with élan
and skill, but I cannot help but wonder if a
more naturally audacious actor could have really
got his teeth into that juicy role. A possible
case of miscasting methinks, if you disagree,
sue me! John C Riley was touching as the confused,
thick-as-pig-shit hubby. He reminded me of the
late English comedian Tommy Cooper for some
bizarre reason. Queen Latifah as the corrupt
Prison Warden needed to be more intimidating,
but I loved her song. There are saucy dances
of prison inmates in very kinky, very-unprison-like
garb, LOL. Indeed there was a puppeteer routine
that is enchanting visually and wonderfully
weird aurally: Gere’s and Zellweger’s
voices seem to be morphed together to produce
an almost alien hybrid timbre, not quite male
or female.
I am not sure how
Chicago
compares to its predecessors, such as 'All That
Jazz' (1979), as I have not seen them, so I
have no choice but to take this movie at face
value.
Chicago shot
past pleasantly, and I was charmed by most of
it, although one of the characters becomes surprisingly
unsympathetic towards the end. Another oddity
is one scene that is a real downer, and jarringly
out of place in this fun, make-believe, spirited
flick. The ending confused me on a couple of
points, and left a bit of a sour taste too.
I delve into these points in the Spoiler Zone.
But I really like this movie, it has imperfections
but at least they are
interesting imperfections.
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spoilers corner
Spoilers!!!!
Warning: this box contains a movie post-mortem analysis that freely gives away important plot twists and details. If you have not yet seen this movie and intend seeing it, avoid this spoilers box until afterwards. Bookmark the page, see the movie, see if you agree with my review then write an arsy comment saying I am talking total b*ll*cks :-)
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The gallows scene was really awful, particularly
because it was too effective! The lonely
spectacle of the poor lass sobbing on
the platform was heartbreaking (almost).
Strange. The scene obviously helped to
create tension, as poor Rene realised
the full horror of her potential fate,
but even so, it was too depressing to
behold. After all, this movie is definitely
nothing to do with reality so it beats
me why this of all scenes was portrayed
vaguelly realistically. Make us miserable
and destroy the spell of the fantasy into
the bargain, super idea :)
After Zellweger became spoiled and rather
unpleasant, her character didn’t
seem to recover its original charm. Maybe
the movie was making some insightful social
commentary, but at what cost? Zelweger
character started off as a lovely flower
and ended up a thistle. The husband saw
this transformation and turned away in
depression, having had his hopes of a
child dashed on cruel rocks. He was not
blameless, but his predicament was not
resolved. He was obviously a good, kindly
man, but he was abandoned to be wretched,
unless I missed a plot detail. It was
touching acting by John C. Riley and his
character deserved a happy ending, and
the girls deserved a comeuppance. I felt
that this movie needed to be much more
feel-good, forget realism. And I never
thought I would say that of an American
movie. Is the world getting too cynical
even for me or am I going soft? Of course,
savage editing may have cut out the odd
scene or two, which would account for
the troubling loose ends.
These grumbles are not showstoppers; as
most of Chicago is a delight, the movie
takes risks, it is creative, often brilliant,
and has buckets of charm. At the end I
wanted the Chicago to last just that little
bit longer, which I suppose is a symptom
of having been exposed to successful show
biz.
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There are no more spoilers below this
point, except maybe in any user talkback
comments.
End of spoilers corner
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The hobbits get hanged. Oops. Wrong movie
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| From: |
madster | Subject: | 2003-03-09 21:52:32 |
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| From: |
Alyssa | Subject: | 2003-05-06 22:55:17 |
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