Basic plot: A woman goes to jail for murder. Singing follows.
The latest trade-off with Lauren found me watching this 2002 Best Picture winner. Lauren gets to watch American Beauty, 1999’s Best Picture winner, in return.
Honestly, the only reason I was interested in seeing Chicago at all was because it was a Best Picture winner. Nevermind the fact that I do generally enjoy musicals, this one just didn’t seem appealing to me. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m not sure why my interest was so low.
It had a lot going for it that I certainly had no reason to complain about. Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of the most beautiful women in the entire world, I’ve loved Renee Zellweger since Jerry Maguire, and Richard Gere seems like he’d be a pretty cool guy. The best excuse I can come up with is that the 1920’s and 30’s seem sort of boring to me – largely due to the first hour of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. But that’s another discussion for another post.
Chicago was fantastic. Very, very much to my surprise, there wasn’t a single element of it that I didn’t like. Even Queen Latifa, who I have a record of hating, was great. The music is both catchy and brilliantly layered to fit the Jazz Age setting, but what sells the whole thing is the smart storytelling.
Unlike most musicals where the characters randomly start singing and everyone around them inexplicably knows all of the choreography and lyrics, Chicago has all the musical bits essentially exist only in the characters’ minds as imaginary Vaudeville numbers to coincide with the traditionally filmed story.
The contrast between these two makes for a stunning transition between the fiction and “reality”. Compared to the murky lighting that follows the “real” scenes in the jail or courtroom, the colors from the alternative pop in ways that could even put Moulin Rouge to shame. The cinematography on both ends of things is equally gorgeous, whether it’s using every vibrant shade of red it can or whether the focus seems to be on showing how unhappy a holding cell can be.
Furthermore, I loved the cast. Renee Zellweger, who always seemed to win more based on her personality than anything, actually looks really, really pretty here, and she fits the time period better than anyone else in the cast. As I already mentioned, Catherine Zeta-Jones is as gorgeous as ever, and Richard Gere completely rocks it as the smug lawyer that doesn’t seem to care much about anything at all outside of winning. John C. Reilly and Queen Latifa also make for an excellent supporting cast.
The closest I could come to a complaint on this is that it has slightly twisted morals since you’re essentially rooting for the success of a murderer who cheated on her husband, but given the time period, I didn’t really care. Horrible as it may technically be, I can’t help but feel like that’s just how the 20s worked. Everyone wanted money; everyone wanted fame. All of the other elements work so outstandingly perfect together, that it’s easy to overlook the moral discrepancies in the name of entertainment. It is just a movie – and a great one at that.
I liked this movie a whole lot. It may find its way into my DVD collection as soon as this month.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:02 am
CAL! I am so happy you liked this movie. I wanted to see this movie based on the fact that 1) it is a musical and 2) I love movies and such that take place in the 1920’s- 30’s era.
And please tell me your hatred of Queen Latifa comes from something other than that one single movie.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I’m actually quite surprised you haven’t seen this movie before now. Isn’t it wonderful? One of the best musical adaptations I’ve ever seen. I’m also a big fan of the “Jazz era”, so this film was really refreshing.
And I agree with you. With the exception of this and a few other small roles, Queen Latifa is not one of my favs. She should stop. Not just acting, but life. I don’t even care if she reads this. Queen Latifa…just stop.
June 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Lauren, I’ve also seen her in Last Holiday which was completely horrible and I thought she was the weakest part of Stranger Than Fiction. Her song in Hairspray also stands, by far, as my least favorite song in that movie. And then Beauty Shop, Barbershop 2 and Taxi all looked terrible enough in the commercials that I felt I could judge them relatively fairly based on 2 minutes of groaning while sitting through the trailers.
But seriously, Chicago was awesome. Even the Queen Latifa part. Good pick on that one.
Connor, thank you!
June 11th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
I have a reserved appreciation for Chicago. I think it’s a fun movie and technically amazing, but its not something I ever feel the need to watch again. It also bugged me that it won so many oscars. Especially best picture. It was my least favorite of the five movies nominated that year.
And I dislike Queen Latifa in everything I’ve ever seen her in. Even this movie.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:25 am
Bout time you saw this!