Chicago

February 24, 2003

Starring:Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu, Taye Diggs, Colm Feore, Christine Baranski, Dominic West, Mya Harrison

Director: Rob Marshall

Official Website:http://www.miramax.com/chicago/

Throughout this review, I won`t be able to refrain from comparing this to the only other musical I know of, Moulin Rouge. Some I am just going to go all out and beat the comparison to death...

Choreography: Chicago is overall pretty slick. The effort in the dance/vocal numbers and the decors is very noticeable. Moulin Rouge is also quite slick and impressive, but is also very gay and lovey dovey in its decor. Winner: Chicago

Quality of Music: Chicago has some good signers in Zellweger and Zeta-Jones, but in my opinion there are too many songs and some of them seem to be there for pure entertainment, unknowingly chocking us. Kidman and Macgregor were just as good and the songs were much better utilized. Winner : Moulin Rouge

Acting : Chicago is packed with talent, despite having one of the most over-rated actor wannabes in Richard Gere. Though usually very irritating, he doesn`t do too much damage here. I truly think Zellweger gave the best performance I`ve seen from a female actor in the past year, even better than Kidman. Moulin Rouge loses this one thanks to their annoying Spakeshare-like sidekicks. Winner: Chicago

Plot: I have sit through Moulin Rouge many times, and I`ve noticed that if you can get by the annoying little things, this is very well done and very well directed. The plot does make you feel something for these characters, it`s very deep and effective. Chicago`s plot is too simple. This has it`s good sides, it makes going to see it for the music and dance more of an option, but to me it felt like the only option. That is what you get out of a story written more than 50 years ago... Winner: Moulin Rouge

Overall, Chicago is pretty good, worth the 9.75$ I paid, but I don`t think it deserves 13 nominations, probably deserves more like 4 or 5, which is still pretty darn good

In short:
Comedy: Some clever comedy, but not enough to be a "pure" comedy.
Violence/language: Occasional strong language, no violence
Nudity/sex: None
High Points: Very stylized clever flick, some pretty good acting
Low Points: Too many dance numbers, not enough meat to story.

Rating: B+