Jan. 11, 2003 - 11:58 pm
another big end of the year nominee for just about everything. my mom and Colin and I went to see this one last night knowing little to nothing about it other than the fact that it was a musical that involved Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Renee Zellweger in some sort of 1920s cabaret sort of thing. it was good though, even though not as original as some might think
well, there's Roxie who dreams of being on the stage one day soon. but she's involved with a guy who says he has the connections she's looking for even though it turns out he doesn't. when she finds out, she shoots him three times and gets sent up for it. the rest of the film is her trying to get everyone in the city to believe that she's innocent. it's a lot easier once she gets Billy Flynn, the slickest lawyer in town, on her side. they start wowing everyone with their performances and lies.
first of all i was almost offended in one of the musical numbers that starts the first night that Roxie get sent to prison. it's basically a complete ripoff of Dancer in the Dark (2000). there's some prison noises that come together to a beat and Roxie imagines that everyone starts performing a musical number to the song that she imagines. i don't know if that originated with Dancer in the Dark since Chicago was actually a stage production first (or so i hear). somebody's copying somebody in any case and it's a little too close for comfort.
let me say though that everything in this film is well made. the set and costume designs are amazing. great cinematography. and i think that i did actually like the sort of "flashy" way that they shot some of the dance numbers. by flashy i'm talking about how the image sort of flickers. you'll have to see it to totally understand what i'm talking about.
i think the only real problem with the film is that i just generally don't like musicals that much. very over the top and just not my style. but i'd wager that if you love musicals, you'll think this film is flawless.