Chicago -- March 2003

Razzle Dazzle ‘Em

Well, folks, it’s Academy Award time again. I don’t know if that’s of any importance to you or not, but since movies nominated for Oscars are generally “big movies” and are talked about a good deal, it might be worthwhile to review one of those biggies. So let’s talk about Chicago.
   
Set in the 1920s, Chicago is a musical about Windy City women who have murdered their husbands or boyfriends and are waiting on death row. Not many of them will swing, though — at least not if they have the right lawyer to get them off. Renée Zellweger plays Roxie Hart, a young married woman who shoots the man she’s having an affair with because he wants to leave her. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Velma Kelly, a woman who has killed her husband. Richard Gere plays Billy Flynn, the Johnny Cochrane-type lawyer who gets them off with his razzle dazzle courtroom tricks.

On the positive side: The movie is colorful and lively and full of strong performances. Catherine Zeta-Jones dances and sings her socks off and does a great American accent (She’s British.). Renée Zellweger does a creditable job with the role of Roxie. John C. Reilly shines as Roxie’s wimp husband, especially in his musical number Mr. Cellophane, about a man so unimpressive you can see right through him. And who would have thought that Richard Gere could sing and dance?

On the negative side: Besides a lot of four-letter words and the glamorizing of immoral behavior, there’s an emptiness at Chicago’s core. Most of the great movie musicals have a point of view and show some kind of moral transformation of a character. Con-man Harold Hill in The Music Man is redeemed by love. Prideful and arrogant Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady is ultimately humbled by the poor flower girl he’s made a lady. The gang members in West Side Story learn about the destructiveness of their hate. Here, however, there’s no clear moral center and thus nothing uplifting. Roxie and Velma’s murderous exploits qualify them to leave death row and go on to star in a successful song and dance act. We might be tempted to say, “How far the musical has sunk!”

Redeeming values? A friend pointed out that Chicago makes a comment about our legal system and the issue of justice (to say nothing about the excessive power of the media). After all, one of the main songs is called Razzle Dazzle ‘Em. Do juries seek the truth, or are they just swayed by the better performance? What does it take to convince a jury? A good lawyer, basically. Maybe Clarence Darrow won the verdict in the Scopes trial because he razzle dazzled the jury better than William Jennings Bryan did. Maybe O. J. got off because of Johnny Cochrane’s razzle dazzle courtroom work. Chicago seems to say, satirically, that in America whatever you do is fine, so long as you can escape the consequences and perform well while doing so. That theme might make this movie worthwhile, but I’m not necessarily convinced. You can enjoy and greatly admire Chicago, but can you be uplifted by it? I’ll leave that up to you.

Film Rating: PG-13                        
My Rating: 3 ½ stars