Yet another musical in our movie collection. This one, (a winner of 6 Oscars including best picture) is a blast to watch. Pure entertainment. Being a history buff, I love this film set in Chicago in the roaring twenties. It is full of flashy lights, neon, lace, and burlesque. It is the story of a group of women who for whatever reason have murdered their significant others, usually due to infidelity.
The films highlights are definitely the musical numbers. From the cell block tango (filled with scantily clad women :) too the lawyer Billy Flinn's show stopper "All I Care About Is Love." I remember hearing an interview on NPR with the director of Chicago when it first came out saying that all the musical numbers were done live. It's alot of fun seeing the sets change from the musical stage numbers back to the Cook County Jail, or the courthouse.
"Chicago" is a blast to watch...if you like musicals. Even if you don't like musicals, seeing a show that with this many accolades is well worth your time. It is a great bit of entertainment, and one well worth watching.
-David
Chicago. Cabaret. Jazz. Murder. Ethics? Nah. But it sure is a lot of fun. Your in one minute, your out the next. That's the name of the game.
Top notch actors and actresses dazzle in this film. We see Roxie's journey from murderess to inmate to fame both in real time and in her imagination, where the ordinary and drab are transformed into, as Billy Flynn puts it "razzle dazzle."
Renee Z. and Catherine Zeta Jones are brilliant as Thelma and Roxie. Callous, calculating, willing to do what it takes to get what they want. And not caring who gets hurt or left behind, such as Roxie's poor husband Amos, sweet but lacking quite a bit in the brains department, who gets played more than once by Roxie and Billy Flynn. Speaking of Billy Flynn, Richard Gere shines as well, in both song and dance. And let's not forget Mama, aka Queen Latifah.
Great music, great acting, and a whole lot of fun. Just don't take any life lessons from this play.
-Bethany
