In 1920s Chicago, Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) shoots and kills her lover (Dominic West). She lands in prison but, with the help of shady lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), she begins to enjoy her notoriety and thrive on the publicity. Another inmate, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) begins to get very jealous of all this...
Adaptation of the hit Broadway musical is actually better than the stage version. The story is more coherent and the cast gives their all to the material. Also, the songs flow right into the story--in some musicals the story stops short to make room for the songs--here they just blend together perfectly. Also some of the song and dance numbers just had my audience applauding them--they're that well done!
The acting is universally good--Zeta-Jones (totally covering her Scottish accent) is just great as Kelly; Zellweger is good as Roxie (but she pouted a little too much for my taste) and Gere is obviously having a great old time as Flynn (and he sings and dances pretty well!). And Queen Latifah, Taye Diggs and Dominic West are great in supporting roles.
I almost gave this a 10...but the ending left me a bit cold. That aside, this is a rarity--a good solid Hollywood adaptation of a stage musical. Worth catching.
