Renée Zellweger joins her shortly later, when she guns down Dominic West for delivering the wrong break-up speech. "Let's be friends" is the tried-and-true method, not "You pout too much, your nagging is boring, and I've been lying to you for three months."
Zellweger and second banana Zeta-Jones face murder trials and are obliged to pay bribes to Queen Latifah, who against all likelihood in the Jim Crow era apparently has full run of the prison. But things are looking up for them. Newspaper publicity has made them celebrities, and they have Richard Gere as their defense attorney.
The cocky and thoroughly unethical Gere has never lost a case, because he understands that life is all about entertainment. Women only get convicted of murder if they fail to play their role properly, or if they have a thick Hungarian/Russian accent like Ekaterina Chtchelanova.
Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are already looking past their trials to the day when they can capitalize on their infamy on stage. Public attention is fleeting, however, and triple-murderer Lucy Liu may steal their thunder. At least Zellweger can always count on her hapless doormat husband, John C. Reilly.
How others will see it. The biggest surprise concerning Chicago is that it took so long for it to be made. The musical was a big hit on Broadway in 1975. The 1996 revival was even more successful, and still playing today at the Ambassador Theatre.
The movie version was also an enormous commercial success, earning more than 300 million dollars at the box office. It was also critically acclaimed, garnering 13 Oscar nominations, including every major category except Best Actor. It won the most prestigious Academy Award of all, Best Picture, as well as Best Supporting Actress for brunette Catherine Zeta-Jones, who purportedly did all of her own singing and dancing.
Today, at imdb.com, the user ratings are certainly high at 7.2, although a gender gap exists (7.0 from men vs. 7.7 from women). As one might expect, a backlash exist from moralists who are irate that violent murder is celebrated, as long as you are sufficiently young, beautiful, and glamorous to get away with it. Marshall's in-your-face style as a director also disturbs a small minority of viewers.
How I felt about it. Although set a lifetime ago, Chicago can be regarded as an allegory for the triumph of scandal in contemporary society. True, O.J. Simpson is a pariah, as is Tonya Harding. Violent crime doesn't pay after all. But Donald Trump is repeatedly rewarded for bankrupting his financial backers, and Charlie Sheen's outrageous behavior continues to pay off. The true schmucks are people like John C. Reilly, who work long hours footing the bill for their spouse's infidelities.
Chicago is so blatantly immoral that it is a parody of American values. Don't try this at home. Interestingly, to escape capital punishment, Zellweger must sell herself as glamorous to the likes of gossip columnist Christine Baranski, but in the courtroom, she has to play the role of a meek housewife. That is because the jury expects a performance against type from the defendant. We know she can be a bad girl. But can she play nice? And keep in mind, these are the same people that elected Calvin Coolidge president.
We have to give credit to Rob Marshall, who makes his feature debut as director. He benefitted from many years of Broadway experience, especially as a choreographer. If you close your eyes, the singing is unconvincing. When your eyes are open, though, the razzle-dazzle works.