Would-be vaudeville starlet Roxie Hart (Renee Zellwegger), pretty but only modestly talented, unexpectedly
finds fame on Death Row as the murderess of the moment in 1920s era Chicago. Along the way, she unseats the reigning
homicidal jazz vixen, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and enlists the help of sleazy mouthpiece Billy Flynn (Richard Gere),
her cuckolded husband Amos (John O'Reilly), and jail matron Mama Morton (Queen Latifah).
The movie's message can be stated sin this way: Americans love the celebrity status so much that they'll
idolize people who are famous for heinous acts, and the press feeds this tendency with gullible and ever-present coverage of lurid stories. But no one loves this film for
its message. Instead, audiences embrace it for its rich sets, catchy songs, spectacular production numbers, and for surprisingly
good performances by actors and actresses not previously known for their musical talents.
Chicago is, however, the best movie musical since Cabaret. This is due in no small part to the combined
talents of the filmmakers and cast. But it is also a result of screenwriter Bill Condon and others having found a way around
the "bursting into song" convention that people still accept onstage but haven't tolerated onscreen since the 1960s or
early '70s. The only notable exception is Moulin Rouge , but that movie got away with its lack of realism by going
over the top into surrealism.
