Review of All That Jazz (1979) by Jim S — 31 Oct 2006

[QUOTE]No, nothing I ever do is good enough. Not beautiful enough, it's not funny enough, it's not deep enough, it's not anything enough. Now, when I see a rose, that's perfect. I mean, that's perfect. I want to look up to God and say, "How the hell did you do that? And why the hell can't I do that?"[/QUOTE]So says Joe Gideon in [i]All That Jazz[/i].

So, flipping through the TV last night, I came across Bob Fosse's [i]All That Jazz[/i]. I'm not entirely sure what made me stop and watch it, since the only Fosse-related thing I've seen was the movie [i]Chicago[/i]. Maybe it was Roy Scheider. I always liked him. Anyway, to my surprise... it was friggin' great. I gather it's mostly autobiographical, as it's the story of a Broadway director/choreographer and movie director hustling through life, looking for inspiration for his new show and perfecting his latest film (which is now in its seventh month of editing) while destroying his personal life by alienating his daughter, womanizing, chain-smoking and pill-popping. The movie has a go-for-broke, on the wire edge to it, with its Fellini-esque fantasy sequences (seems like Fosse must have just watched [i]8 1/2[/i]), and breakneck editing. Fosse is doing a high-wire act, and one misstep and this whole thing falls down. But he holds it all together with great engergy and pathos. The dance numbers are brilliant, as they need to be since Scheider's Joe Gideon is a perfectionist, especially the Air-otica sequence and closing number. To be on the wire is life. The rest is waiting.