BEFORE: I'm making up for past movie-watching sins tonight - a few years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Las Vegas, and I saw parts of this movie while riding on a bus to go see the Grand Canyon. I didn't pay much attention to it, and that's not the best way to watch a movie anyway. This is something of an obvious choice (to me anyway) after "Thelma & Louise" - with the common theme of two women in trouble with the law. This also kicks off about two weeks of legal-themed films.
THE PLOT: Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
AFTER: This isn't really my kind of movie, but it did win the Oscar for Best Picture, and with this year's nominations coming up in 2 days, that's where my head is at. I'm not an expert on the stage version of this story. But the other day, I did add up how many films I've seen that won the Best Picture Oscar - 44 out of 82. This film makes it 45, and I've got another 5 on my list, which will make a nice even 50. Not bad.
Double-standards abound in this storyline - for some reason it's OK for women to sleep around, but also get revenge on men who did them wrong. And shooting an abusive husband or boyfriend is justifiable, and then all efforts should be made to avoid prosecution. And once again, all men are right bastards, slimeballs, or just plain a-holes.
I'll admit the musical numbers are quite nifty, and so is the story structure that places most of them neatly in one character's imagination. They tried that back on "Ally McBeal" with mixed results, but the trick pays off here.
I'll be watching the legal proceedings in the upcoming chain of films for shenanigans, but the tricks pulled off by attorney Billy Flynn here were actually sort of impressive. If you don't count manipulating public opinion to influence the trial, that is.
Starring Renee Zellweger (last seen in "Me, Myself & Irene"), Catherine Zeta-Jones (last seen in "America's Sweethearts"), Richard Gere (last seen in "I'm Not There"), John C. Reilly (last seen in "Hoffa"), Queen Latifah (last seen in "Jungle Fever"), Taye Diggs, with cameos from Dominic West, Lucy Liu, Christine Baranski, and Chita Rivera
RATING: 5 out of 10 flash bulbs
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