I Watch Films: Chicago

 

Chicago

On a night in 1924 Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) sees Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta Jones) arrested on stage for the murder of her sister and husband. The man she’s with promises he can get her into the theatre and becomes her lover. A month later, tiring of the affair, he admits he has no contacts in the theatre and she shoots him. She tries to get her husband to take the blame, claiming he’s a burglar, but when the police tell him the lover’s name, he realises they know him and admits he was shot dead when he got there.

In prison there are a lot of women who are accused of killing their lovers, including Velma Kelly. It’s run by Mama Morton, an inmate whose system of bribes and influence spreads within and without. At her recommendation she hires Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) as her lawyer. He’s the best, and besides Cook County hasn’t hung a woman for years.

They hang one of the women. Kelly, Hart and Flynn all manipulate the press with sensational stories. In the end a corrupt system is turned in on itself.

It’s a musical! Specifically it’s a 2002 film based on a 1975 stage musical, based on a 1926 play, loosely based on some 1924 crimes and trials covered by the playwright/journalist. The staging shifts between stylised on stage versions of the various sets, to realistic ones, though everything is heightened. Usually the deeper into a song and dance number the more “on-stage” it gets but not always; some scenes are set on stage, and some just happen. Anyway, it’s dark, and funny, and there’s some good set-pieces, the stars really trying to show their talents.

Watch This: A fun, satirical musical that parallels show business and criminal justice as entertainment
Don’t Watch This: Singing, dancing and jokes are no way to deal with murder