This
Hollywood adaptation of the classic Broadway musical
sparkles with glamour and reverberates with the energy
of good, old-fashioned song and dance. As the film leaps
into its first riveting act, Velma Kelly (Catherine
Zeta-Jones), one half of the famous number she performs
with her sister, arrives at the night club late,
disheveled, and with blood on her hands. Nonetheless,
she goes onstage unhindered and wows the crowd with her
shimmying rendition of "All That Jazz." Roxie
Hart (Renee Zellweger) a young blond who dreams of
someday being famous like Velma, watches from the
audience with eyes full of envy. Later, as the cops pick
up Velma for the murder of her sister, sending her fame
to all-time heights as she becomes a tabloid sensation,
Roxie also commits a crime of passion--shooting a lover
who falsely promised to secure her cabaret debut. The
girls wind up together in jail, where Mama Morton (Queen
Latifah), a compassionate guard, is their only hope of
redemption; and Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) is the lawyer
who can get them out. There, through wonderfully
familiar songs like "Razzle Dazzle,"
"Cell-Block Tango," and "Cellophane
Man" Roxie and Velma tell their story of competing
for bad-girl celebrity.
Director Rob Marshall presents a loveable CHICAGO that
shares all the grit and grime of the Bob Fosse Broadway
original with phenomenal performances by this grouping
of Hollywood stars. The dizzying camerawork and dazzling
sets make an easy transition from stage to film!!
