Chicago (2002)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Rob Marshall

Writers (WGA):

Maurine Dallas Watkins (play)
Bob Fosse (book) ...

Release Date:

24 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Musical

Tagline:

With the right song and dance, you can get away with murder.

Plot:

Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together)and Roxie Hart (Who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

Plot Keywords:

Nudity | Beautiful Woman | One Word Title | Crimes Of Passion | Sex

Awards:

Won 6 Oscars. Another 34 wins & 54 nominations

Cast

Taye Diggs	...	Bandleader
Cliff Saunders	...	Stage Manager
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Velma Kelly
Renée Zellweger	...	Roxie Hart
Dominic West	...	Fred Casely
Jayne Eastwood	...	Mrs. Borusewicz
Bruce Beaton	...	Police Photographer
Roman Podhora	...	Sergeant Fogarty
John C. Reilly	...	Amos Hart
Colm Feore	...	Harrison
Rob Smith	...	Newspaper Photographer
Sean Wayne Doyle	...	Reporter
Steve Behal	...	Prison Clerk
Robbie Rox	...	Prison Guard
Chita Rivera	...	Nickie

Also Known As:

Chicago (Germany)
Chicago: The Musical (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #39516) | Netherlands:MG6 | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | South Korea:15 | France:U | Brazil:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2003) | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Miramax Films

Trivia:

John Travolta, Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and Hugh Jackman were all considered for the role of Billy Flynn.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mama assures Roxie that a woman has not "swung" in Cook County in years. Cook County has never executed a woman.

Quotes:

Roxie: They LOVE me.
Billy Flynn: They'd love you a lot more if you were hanged. You know why? Because it would sell more papers... That's Chicago.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Salma Hayek/Christina Aguilera (#28.15)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Raisin' the Roof

Great fun, simply a very entertaining movie.

Funny thing about watching a movie like "Chicago", which won the award for Best Picture last year. I eagerly awaited the DVD, and when I first sat down to watch it, I didn't finish it. I guess I just wasn't in the mood. I began to wonder what all the hoopla was about. Now, a couple of weeks later, I watched it from the beginning and now I "get" it. I must have been in a different mood, because this time everything "clicked" for me, it was great fun, simply a very entertaining movie. Now I'm glad I own the DVD, aside from my desire to have as many Oscar winners as I can. The whole story is a parody of fame, crime, and use of a slick lawyer to fool a jury. I will enjoy watching it again and again.

My favorite scene was where Gere's lawyer was puppetteer to Zellweger's Roxie, the acting, the singing, the timing were all just perfect. It has been well-publicized that Zellweger neither sang nor danced professionally before "Chicago", and I found her more than adequate for the role of Roxie. In fact, I quite enjoy her singing voice. Yet, Catherine Z-J has the more powerful, trained voice, having started out on stage, and it is apparent when they are together that Z-J is the more seasoned performer. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well Gere handled his singing duties. Some have complained about his somewhat "nasal" singing voice, but to me it fit his character well. A rich, operatic baritone would have been out of character.

I viewed the DVD with the DTS track selected and it delivers with a fine surround sound. Plus, the picture is very sharp, in all a good DVD to own for fans of musical comedies.