Review of Chicago (2002) by Halfwelshman — 19 Nov 2011

Chicago is a pretty unique film creation. An adaptation of the satirical musical of the same name, it's energetic and flawlessly choreographed, with well-performed songs and a decent helping of tongue-in-cheek humour.

It's not all glitz and glamour though, and it's satisfying to see a bit more going on below the surface than in other musicals - it addresses everything from gender stereotypes to the fragility of celebrity and the fickle nature of a media-consuming public.

The cast are strong across the board, but Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere are the real highlights, the former perfectly expressing Roxie Hart's journey from naive and unfulfilled housewife to calculating, image-cultivating celebrity, and the latter stealing every scene he's in with good old-fashioned showmanship.

Unfortunately the film does lose a little momentum, and packs a bit less punch in the final twenty minutes or so, but this is more a testament to the knock-out near-perfection of the rest of the film rather than any particular flaw in this part of the film.

Perhaps it was inevitable that shining so brightly early on would result in a certain loss of sparkle in the latter parts of the film. Overall, though, Chicago is a joy to behold, and the experience will stay with you long after the credits roll.