Chicago (DVD, 2002) Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger New, Factory Sealed.
This Hollywood adaptation of the classic Broadway musical sparkles with
glamour and reverberates with the energy of good, old-fashioned song and
dance. As the film leaps into its first riveting act, Velma Kelly
(Catherine Zeta-Jones), one half of the famous number she performs with
her sister, arrives at the night club late, disheveled, and with blood
on her hands. Nonetheless, she goes onstage unhindered and wows the
crowd with her shimmying rendition of "All That Jazz." Roxie Hart (Renee
Zellweger) a young blond who dreams of someday being famous like Velma,
watches from the audience with eyes full of envy. Later, as the cops
pick up Velma for the murder of her sister, sending her fame to all-time
heights as she becomes a tabloid sensation, Roxie also commits a crime
of passion--shooting a lover who falsely promised to secure her cabaret
debut. The girls wind up together in jail, where Mama Morton (Queen
Latifah), a compassionate guard, is their only hope of redemption; and
Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) is the lawyer who can get them out. There,
through wonderfully familiar songs like "Razzle Dazzle," "Cell-Block
Tango," and "Cellophane Man" Roxie and Velma tell their story of
competing for bad-girl celebrity.Director Rob Marshall presents a
loveable CHICAGO that shares all the grit and grime of the Bob Fosse
Broadway original with phenomenal performances by this grouping of
Hollywood stars. The dizzying camerawork and dazzling sets make an easy
transition from stage to film.