Plot Synopsis:
Murderesses Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago. Also starring Richard Gere and Queen Latifa.
Official Trailer:
Full Review:
As you may have guessed from the title, I didn’t like this film. In fact, I kind of despised it! When I first sat down and decided to put myself through this lacklustre yet Oscar winning musical, I turned it off after 45 minutes. I just couldn’t stand it! And now, with the 86th annual Oscar award ceremony being premiered tonight, I feel inclined to tell you guys about the least deserving Best Picture winner in the history of the Oscars (in my opinion).
Let’s start off with the good points, as per usual. To begin, I will very openly admit that I enjoyed the way the film looked. And I mean I really liked how Chicago lit up my TV screen. The beautiful scenery and excellent costume design captures the essence of 1920’s America very well. So big props to the art direction crew, who earned the only Oscar this film actually deserved!
Speaking of which, Catherine Zeta-Jones (Entrapment, High Fidelity) bagged herself an Oscar for Supporting Actress for her performance as Velma Kelly, a glamour goddess that relishes in the limelight. Zeta-Jones plays the role to a fairly good degree, embodying a good blend of self affection and envy for Renée Zellweger’s character Roxie Hart. Zellweger (Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jone’s Diary) does a great job playing a young and aspiring showgirl who dreams of making headlines like Velma. I could talk about everyone but I won’t since I’m pretty much going to say the same thing about each of them: THEIR ACTING WAS REALLY GOOD!.
The acting all around was definitely not a problem at all. But do you know what is a problem? The musical numbers. Good lord, the songs are incredibly generic! I’ve heard songs like the ones in Chicago countless times when I was forced to go to the pantomime as a kid. In hindsight, that’s probably why I don’t like musicals that much!! But even with my hatred for musicals aside, the songs just aren’t that memorable and definitely haven’t been stuck in my head for weeks on end. To be fair, the music does emulate the time period it is trying to capture which is a good thing, but this unfortunately limits their creativity and constricts their ability to try different genres.
To the film’s credit, they have tried to be original by using clever yet jazzy camouflage. Instead of people just randomly bursting out into song (probably the main reason why I hate musicals), the songs take place as part of Roxie’s imagination who sees the real world around her as a major broadway show. But even so, it’s still people bursting into song. If you want to progress the story, just speak normal dialogue!
There’s no need to do the cha-cha in order to get your point across!!
And to be honest, I didn’t give a toss about the characters and their dilemmas at all, despite the good acting. The main challenge our characters face is that either Zeta-Jones or Zellweger will be sent to the gallows as the other bathes in the flashing camera of the paparazzi. And throughout the film, I didn’t give two flaming sh*ts about what happened to them! You know there’s something wrong with your film when your audience don’t even give a damn about anything that is being projected on screen.
All in all, my opinions of this film may be slightly biased due to my aforementioned distaste of musicals. But, in the famous words of Clark Gable, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!. This film was just a waste of my time and totally undeserving of the title ‘Best Picture Winner’, especially when it had won over films like Gangs of New York, The Pianist, and (my personal winner) The Two Towers. But anyway, Chicago is simply a cinematic pantomime that feels lacklustre and underwhelming.
Fergie’s Final Fifteen:
Ambitious and a spectacle for eyes and ears, but just not my cup of tea.
FERGIE FILMS 