Queen Latifah in Chicago (2002)

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I guess you all know what Chicago is, a retro musical about the 1920s but in the style and glitz of the 1970s. It is an accurate translation of the feel of Bob Fosse's 1975 stage version to film. Many people picked it as one of the Top 10 films of the year, some even picked it #1. At any rate, it was good enough to pull off the seemingly impossible task of winning Richard Gere a best actor award.

The basic storyline follows an aspiring flapper (Roxie Hart) who kills her boyfriend in a jealous rage and is then tried for the murder, thus achieving the fame she had craved. After a slippery lawyer wins her freedom, she performs her act for audiences curious about a singing and dancing murderer.

That's about all there is to it. Were you expecting Anna Karenina?

Perhaps you didn't know that the saga of Roxie Hart is, more or less, a true story, or at least based on a true story. It was first made into a black and white silent movie in 1927. The story was told again in 1942 with Ginger Rogers as Roxie Hart. The 1942 version has a couple of musical numbers, but is not a musical. (The real Roxie was a performer, so Ginger performs, but only in the proper context.)

It's a C+. It is impressively staged and performed, but there's obviously no crossover appeal. It is for musical lovers only. If you hate Fosse-style musicals, you will hate this even more than usual, because it consists solely of the characteristics you despise about those musicals in the first place. I fell asleep three times during this film, breaking my personal record of two times during the New York stage version of Cats! On the other hand, people who like old-fashioned musicals with show-stopping dance numbers, praised it to the rafters.

Nudity Report: No nudity, but Lucy Liu is seen in her underwear. Renee Zellweger does some kinda - sorta nudity - she gets up from the bed after sex, wearing only a negligee - well, at least in theory). Zeta. No nudity. At one point her butt is completely exposed, there is motion blur. Queen Latifah supplies some mammoth cleavage action.

Critics Vote: General USA consensus: three and a half stars. The film was nominated for eight Golden Globes and won three including Best Musical or Comedy. (Gere and Zellweger also won).

IMDb Summary: Voters score it a classic 8.3/10.


Written by: Scoopy …courtesy of Scoopy.net