Chicago

Chicago is a whole lot of fun. It's a delightful romp, fast, sexy, and loud, and it's a great way to mark the comeback of the musical. It doesn't reach the apex of style that was last year's Moulin Rouge!, but it's a very good film all the same. What it lacks in technical achievement (and it does lack a great deal), Chicago makes up for in the enthusiasm of its performances and the rush of its music.

The problem with musicals nowadays -- with the exception of animated Disney films -- is overcoming the audiences' built-in cynicism toward characters suddenly bursting into song. Chicago oversteps this hurdle nicely in the first shot: the camera zooms into the right eye of our starry-eyed heroine, Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger). More than anything, Roxie wants to sing and dance on the stage; so when her life is turned upside down overnight, she soothes herself and adjusts by imagining the world around her a full-blown cabaret show. All the singing and dancing takes place only in her head, so that cynical hurdle is nicely avoided.

The life-changing event occurs when Roxie murders her lover (Dominic West) in a state of blind panic. She's soon shipped off to the big house, threats of execution hanging over her head. She finds herself confronted with the crooked warden, Mama Morton (Queen Latifah), rows and rows of similarly convicted women who all claim "he had it comin'" for such crimes as gum chewing, and her idol, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who's also in for murder. But Velma's become a bigger star in the slammer than she was outside of it, thanks to her lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), and Billy's got similar plans for Roxie.

The film is at its best during its musical scenes. When Roxie's fellow prisoners line up to sing the "Cell Block Tango," the movie soars into the stratosphere. Roxie's husband, Amos (John C. Reilly) bemoans his own uselessness in the film's best song, "Mr. Cellophane," while Richard Gere tap dances (literally!) through a sticky trial. The stars do all their own singing and dancing, and it's surprising how well they do. The weakest is easily Gere, who has a rather odd British accent in his songs, but is clearly having so much fun that it's easy to ignore.

Unfortunately, when not in sing-a-long mode, the film falls a little flat. The muddy cinematography, odd lighting, and drab set design become more apparent, and less enjoyable. Also, the film manages to say nothing at all about society's fascination with criminals, though it seems to want to. Whenever the film was in the "real world," I was sitting back, waiting for the film's bandleader (Taye Diggs) to introduce the next musical number. It also seems to drag quite a bit toward the end, as the ending seems to get farther and farther away. But whenever I'd get bored, another song would burst out, and I'd be swept away again.

I never thought I'd say something like this, but I'm glad to see musicals are making a comeback. As long as they're as fun and inventive as Moulin Rouge! and Chicago, I'm perfectly happy.

Rating: ***1/2