"Chicago" the movie is based upon the renowned stage play. Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a night club singer and dancer jailed for killing two people; her lover and the other half of her sister act who was having an affair with him. Roxie (Renee Zellweger), a singer and dancer wanna be, married to dim-witted Amos (John C. Reilly), is having an affair with Fred (Dominic West). He's a furniture salesman who has promised Roxie that with his connections, she will get an audition at the club where her idol Velma performs. She gives it up for love¾the love of show business. When Roxie learns that Fred has done nothing to advance her career and tells her she's just a "two bit talent with skinny legs," she is soon in jail charged with murder.
Jail matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah) has a side business in the jailhouse that brings in more than her job. She charges $50-$100 to arrange for phone calls; in this case to Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), a lawyer who has never lost a case. If you show promise, she can even get you connected to a major talent agency, as long as you pay her 10% of your earnings. Billy comes in to help Velma and Roxie with a razzle-dazzle that makes Johnny Cochran look like a shrinking violet. Billy has a line that's better than Cochran's famous "if it doesn't fit, then you must acquit." As the story unfolds, we see the fancy footwork that Billy uses to free Velma and Roxie, which allows them to get together as a two-woman act at a first class venue.
Like "Moulin Rouge", this is a musical, and it is so outstanding that George had to hold back his applause a number of times because he felt as if he was in live theater. This is the time of the year when you can really say about a number of films, "This is one of the best movies of the year."
Zeta-Jones, Zellweger, Gere, Reilly and Latifah each sing and dance their own musical numbers. Zeta-Jones again reveals her sexy acrobatic side, which we saw in "Entrapment". Zellweger just knocks it out of the park with her performance. In a scene she does with Gere, where she is a puppet and he a puppeteer, she is brilliant. Gere does a tap dance number that even Savion Glover or Gregory Hines would admire. A song called "Mister Cellophane," done by Reilly, is stunning in its telling of how some can be invisible to more important people. Since Queen Latifah's roots are as a singer, we were not surprised by her raunchy number, of real women with curves, when she tells it like it is. Throughout the film, the lyrics of the songs, as well as the spoken dialogue, is on point all the time. Latifah tells us that "when you're strokin' mama, mama is strokin' you." When Roxie's husband goes to Billy Flynn's office to hire him, Flynn says "Hello Andy," to which he replies, "No, my name is Amos." Even when you know what's coming it's funny.
The set pieces are wonderful, as is the directing and editing by Rob Marshall. The seamless blend of musical numbers with the telling of the story is achieved through flashbacks, with the transition taking place, literally, on the next word the person speaks.
George does not consider himself a big musical fan, but he just may have to buy this soundtrack and see the movie again before it comes out on video. This is destined to become a classic.
Soundtrack