2002 Chicago

2002 Chicago

"They'd love you a lot more if you were hanged.  You know why?  Because it would sell more papers.  That's Chicago."

"I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if Jesus Christ lived in Chicago today, and he had come to me and he had five thousand dollars, let's just say things would have turned out differently."  

"All That Jazz" -Velma Kelly

Critics putting this on the worst Oscar winner lists are either musical haters or just plain nuts.  Chicago is the epitome of a musical translated superbly to film.  Arguably the best it has been done.  I'm really hoping Les Miserables gives it a run for its money when it comes out this Christmas (very exciting for me)!

I wasn’t even familiar with the music going in –it was awesome.  The songs were worked in flawlessly, with Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) transforming real events into musical numbers in her mind.  The script, the costumes, the actors were all amazing.  Catherine Zeta-Jones (Velma Kelly), Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere (lawyer Billy Flynn) were all Oscar worthy (though only Catherine Zeta-Jones won, they clearly gave Renee Zellweger the award the next year for her role in this and not really for Cold Mountain –no way could she have won for that performance), not to mention wonderful performances by Queen Latifah as Matron "Mama" Morton and John C. Reilly as Roxie's devoted, often ignored husband, Amos.

Roxie Hart is an aspiring jazz singer having an affair with a man claiming he can help launch her career.  When he breaks it off with her and reveals that he was lying about his connections, she shoots him dead.  She is put in Murderess' Row, which is under the control of Mama Morton, a woman who is willing to help you out if you've got something to give her in return.  Slick lawyer, Billy Flynn, takes her case, and gives her a new persona to make her into a sympathetic character beloved by the public.  Roxie also gets to know some of the other inmates, including her former idol (now nemesis), Velma Kelly, who shot her husband and sister when she found them in bed together.



The justice system is portrayed as a circus (Billy Flynn: "It's all a circus, kid.  A three ring circus.  These trials, the whole world, all show business.  But kid, you're working with a star.  The biggest!"), with all the key players acting more like show business people than lawyers or judges:

Billy Flynn: I object!
Judge: Sustained.
Prosecutor: Your Honor, I haven't even asked the question yet.

Roxie's defense is all a sham, based on Billy's expert refashioning of Roxie's image into that of an innocent, put upon woman taken in by the bright lights of the city and by a man she kills only in self-defense (Roxie learns from him, and adds to the charade by pretending to be pregnant).



Roxie loves the attention she gets from the trial, but the fickleness of the public is revealed when a new murder takes the public eye away from her right after she is set free, leaving her a nobody again:

Don't you want to take my picture? I'm the famous Roxie Hart. Hey, what happened? Billy, what the hell happened?
Billy Flynn: This is Chicago, kid. You can't beat fresh blood on the walls.
Roxie: But my publicity, Billy. My name in the papers. I was counting on that.

All the publicity is gone in the blink of an eye, and she is back where she started, until she meets up again with Velma, and the two decide to start a double act, which culminates in a great Broadway finish:

Roxie: It'll never work.
Velma: Why not?
Roxie: Because I hate you.
Velma: There's only one business where that's no problem at all.

The only comparable film that year was Frida, which I also really enjoyed -it's a good example of how a movie can actually be artistic (When people describe Raging Bull as artistic, I am baffled.  I guess it's artistic like throwing a can of paint on a canvas and calling it beautiful is artistic).