Fame is fleeting because the public is fickle. And nothing titillates the public like the sensational. The film's central characters are Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger), a housewife who fantasizes becoming a vaudville star, and Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a chorus girl who dreams of greater fame than she currently has. Both women find themselves in Cook County Jail on "Murderer's Row" Roxie shot her lover after discovering that he had lied to her about working to further her singing career. Velma eliminated her husband and sister after finding them together in bed. Both women are being represented by slick lawyer Bill Flynn (Richard Gere), who has never lost a case. His approach is to set up his clients as media darlings, then use that exposure to swing the trial in their favor. "In this town, murder's a form of entertainment," he comments. He refers to courtrooms as "three ring circuses" and assures Roxie that just can be blinded bythe "razzle dazzle" he will employ.
Their notoriety sets up Roxie and Velma as rivals for the public spotlight. The lurid details of their lives and crimes makes them instant celebrities. But neither stays on top for long, and it becomes difficult to recapture the public interest once another sensational crime has been committed. There's an insatiable appetiti for fresh blood, and, unless Roxie and Velma can come up with new revelations to keep them front page, the will be quickly forgotten - not only by the general populace, but by their limelight loving lawyer, as well.
Several of the play's numbers have been cut for reasons of pacing and length, but those that remain are expertly staged, combining high energy, Fosse-like choreography with a uniquely cinematic approach that allows vaudeville fantasy sequences to intertwine with more "concrete" moments. (For example, the courtroom scenes of Roxie's trail freely switch back and forth between testimony and Richard Gere's rendition of Razzle Dazzle.) Credit for this goes to choreographer-turned-director Rob Marshall, who is making his feature debut. The real show stopper remains, as has always been the case with the play, the opening interpretation of "All that Jazz."
I have few complaints about the casting, which I viewed dubiously when it was announced. Catherine Zeta-Jones devours the part of Velma with relish, as if she was born to play the stuck-up murderess. Renee Zellweger, while not Zeta-Jones' equal when it comes to drawing the camera's attention, is solid for the most part, although there are a few occasions when her singing could have been stronger. Richard Gere, freed from the need to be serious and intense, exudes charm and charisma in a fun, breezy role that requires him to sing, but doesn't stretch his vocal abilities. John C. Reilly is a true sad-sack as Roxie's cuckolded husband and Queen Latifa is "Mama" Morton, the matron in charge of the female prisoners on Murderer's Row, who will help out her charges - for a modest fee.
Even though the source material is 75 years old, the issues addressed by this film will be familiar to everyone in the audience, proving the point that technology may evolve, but human nature remains the same. The social commentary and attacks on the American system of jurisprudence are as stinging as they are valid. The nine or ten songs-and-dance numbers allow us to enjoy Chicago on a less cerebral, more visceral level than might be the case if this was not a musical, but there's still a fair amount of substance to be considered. It's a pleasure to note that the return of the movie-adapted stage musical is such an unqualified success.