Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10055 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-04
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Hungarian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Adapted from the long-running stage version, this big-screen Chicago is a non-stop singing and dancing extravaganza that may well herald the welcome revival of the film musical. When the part-time lover of wannabe star Roxie (Renee Zellweger) is murdered, she is banged up with Chicago's most famous singing murderess, Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones). They compete for the attention of the best lawyer in town, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). Drawn to the special angle of Roxie's case (the sweetest killer to hit Chicago), Flynn offers her a taste of stardom and her daydreams of singing on stage are juxtaposed with the action.

Chicago has transferred well to film, seamlessly merging Dennis Potter-esque dream sequences with the action. Though the stage show uses sets sparingly, here the look has been heavily influenced by the only successful musical of recent times, Moulin Rouge, with heavy velvets and drapery offering a rich feel to the murky underworld of 1920s Chicago clubs. The hot question is: can the movie stars cut it as performers? Surprisingly, it is Zellweger who looks most comfortable in the part, regardless of her awkward dancing. Zeta-Jones is just that little bit too butch to be believable as a flapper girl, despite her stage school roots, and lacks a certain panache. But one thing is in her favour: she's believable as the ultimate starlet bitch. Gere does not fare much better, with his tap-dancing sequence littered with cutaways (mercifully his dancing and singing is kept to a minimum). The real show-stealer is Queen Latifah, whose matron of the cells is perfect and her singing spot-on. More than anything else, though, this film will whet your appetite to see the original on the West End stage. --Nikki Disney

On the DVD: Chicago on DVD demonstrates that the producers of Rob Marshall's Oscar-winning film obviously took to heart the lyrics "Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle", as the widescreen 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is rich with the lush colours, vibrant tones and sparkling audio that wowed audiences in the cinema. If only the extras had been given the same treatment. There's nothing like the plethora of special features that greeted fans of Moulin Rouge here; there is a grand total of three: a passable director's commentary, a deleted song, "Class", which is so dull you don't question why it didn't make the final cut, and a making-of feature, which is entertaining but nothing new. All in all, there's a very disappointing and unimaginative selection. --Kristen Bowditch

Special Features

• Audio commentary with director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon
  
• Behind the scenes special (28 mins)
  
• Deleted scene with optional commentary

DVD Technical Information:

• Subtitles: English, English for the hearing impaired
  
• Running Time: 108 mins
  
• Region Code: 2

Synopsis
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, dishevelled, 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.

Customer Reviews

Enough raw energy to blow off the doors of your house
Not since ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) have I seen a film musical with as much raw energy as CHICAGO. This is fitting since the former is about the life of the brilliant director-choreographer-composer Bob Fosse, and the latter is an adaptation from his stage musical of the same name. As a matter of fact, the opening number in CHICAGO is "All That Jazz".

CHICAGO has, of course, enough of a rudimentary plot to cement together the dance numbers, which are the film's raison d'être. Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) is a wannabe dancer in 1930s Chicago, who idolizes Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). However, both are arrested for murder, Roxie having gunned down a duplicitous lover after he reneges on a promise to introduce her to a friend who can get her into the Biz, and Velma for having whacked her husband and her sister when she caught the two in bed together. Thrown into Cook County Jail, both fall under the control of the jolly and corrupt Matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah), and both retain the services of Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), a flamboyant lawyer who specializes in defending women accused of homicide, and who's never lost a case.

There aren't enough superlatives to describe CHICAGO, and I fear my review won't do it justice. Jones, a former dancer before she turned actress, struts her magnificent stuff beginning with the opening number ("All That Jazz"). Zellweger and Gere, neither hoofers by training, are seemingly miscast - but it works magnificently. All three sing and dance their way through the film in visually stunning choreographed numbers that had the audience clapping after each.

As Roxie and Velma worked their way through the criminal and judicial systems, the creators of CHICAGO were astoundingly clever in superimposing a musical version of each step in the process on the "real" one, for examples, the on-site police investigation of Roxie's crime ("Funny Honey"), Matron Morton's introductory speech to her new charges ("When You're Good to Mama"), Flynn's entrance ("All I Care About"), and Roxie's defense ("We Both Reached for the Gun"). My favorite comes during Roxie's trial when Flynn, more showman than counselor, displays his philosophy on defense strategy with the glitzy "Razzle Dazzle".

CHICAGO is loud, colorful, in-your-face, exuberant entertainment. I'd give it 10 stars if I could. And if you didn't take the opportunity to see it while it's on the Big Screen at the beginning of 2003, then you've done yourself a huge injustice. I beg you to see this film!

IT WILL RAZZLE-DAZZLE YOU...
This is a fantastic musical. From the beautifully designed sets, to the period costumes, to the show-stopping song and dance numbers, it will simply razzle-dazzle the viewer. The director and his singing and dancing troupe of stars simply pull out all the stops in this brilliantly executed musical.

The film, which provides a cynical and satirical look at fame and fortune, centers in nineteen twenties Chicago around two murderesses, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger). Velma, who together with her sister, was a dance hall success, killed her husband and her sister when she caught them together en flagrante delicto. True to the maxim, however, that the show must go on, she goes on stage immediately after dispatching the two lovers, where she is promptly arrested.

Roxie Hart, an admirer of Velma Kelly, is married to Amos Hart (John C. Reilly), a good-hearted, regular Joe, but she longs for tabloid fame and fortune. She begins to have an affair with a man who promises that he could get her a stage gig only to find that he lied just to get her in bed. So, she ends up killing him. Her long suffering husband stands by his little woman as she is trundled off to jail to await trial. There she meets her idol, Velma Kelly, who finds her hero-worship annoying.

In the jail, Matron "Mama" Morton (Queen Latifah) reigns supreme over the inmates, accepting bribes for favors. Velma Kelly, represented by star defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), is in tabloid heaven. Roxie Hart, longing to be in tabloid heaven as well, gets her husband to retain Billy Flynn on her behalf. Before she knows it, she, too, is in tabloid heaven, playing the media like a violin.

The legal profession also gets a cynical slap in the guise of the slimy, fast talking Billy Flynn, who looks for the best selling point rather than for the truth. He understands the thirst of the media for the perfect sound-bite and he gives it to them. Guilty or not guilty, it doesn't matter. What matters to him, as a hired mouthpiece, is the media mileage he can get for his client, as well as for himself. To that end, he is the ventriloquist, and his client is no more than his dummy.

The razzle-dazzle musical numbers move the story along. Catherine Zeta-Jones is terrific, looking impossibly beautiful and showing off her musical theatre background to great advantage with "All That Jazz" and "Cell Block Tango". Queen Latifah is outstanding as the sly and voracious Mama Morton, who goes whichever way the wind is blowing. She also has a show-stopping musical number, "When You're Good To Mama" that is simply memorable. Renee Zellweger, though not a professional singer or dancer, shows that she can sing and dance with the best of them.

The men also shine in this musical. John C. Reilly, as Roxie's long-suffering husband, also has a terrific number, "Mister Cellophane", that is truly heart rending and poignant, as well as metaphoric. Richard Gere gamely rises to the occasion in his first musical, making the slick Billy Flynn character an integral part of the film with his "Razzle Dazzle" number and his tap dancing.

I love this top notch, clever film, finding it hugely entertaining. It deserves every one of its six Academy Awards, including that for "Best Picture". Director Rob Marshall deserves kudos for this brilliantly directed, seamlessly edited, musical masterpiece. While it is a fairly faithful screen adaptation of Bob Fosse's Broadway musical, it has Rob Marshall's contemporary imprimatur on it. It is a film of which he can be justly proud. Bravo!

"Hey, what do you mean hanging?"
I have never been a big fan of musicals, and there is only a couple that I consider great movies, like "All That Jazz" and "Cabaret". I have to say that even though "Chicago" is not at the exact same level as these two movies, it is good enough to leave a lasting impression. The music is very good and entertaining, the performances of Catherine Zetta-Jones and Renee Zellweger are inspiring, and the story is interesting.

The film starts by jumping right into the action, with amazing music - what a great song is "All that Jazz" - and with Velma Kelly (Zetta-Jones) walking into her dressing room, hiding a gun and washing the blood from her hands. That same night, Roxie Hart (Zellweger) is among the audience watching Velma and dreaming of being like her. She even witnesses when the police comes to take Velma away for the murder of her cheating husband and her sister, who was the object of his affection.

Meanwhile, Roxie is acting on her dreams, and to get there she is sleeping with a man she believes has connections in the show business world and can help her become a star. When she finds out that he was lying, and his "connections" were just a scam to get into her pants, she kills him by shooting him point blank. The husband tries to save her, but is not successful in his attempt, and does not try hard after he figures out what was going on between the deceased and his wife; thus, Roxie ends up in the same prison as Velma.

Enters Billy Flynn (Gere), the slick lawyer that has a reputation for being able to get anyone off the hook, no matter how gruesome the crime or how abundant the evidence. He is Roxie's last chance, so she has to engage in a competition with Velma to see which case he handles first. The corrupt environment also includes Mama (Queen Latifah), the prison guard who really believes in tit for tat and is always on the prowl for fresh meat.

I was surprised when I learned that both Zellweger and Zetta-Jones actually sing themselves in all the music pieces, since the quality of their singing is superb and it appears to be done by professional singers. Both of them do an outstanding job in their acting, and are supported in their roles by the quality performances of Richard Gere and Queen Latifah. Congratulations to Rob Marshall and his team for a remarkable final product.