Chicago
Rating = B-
This is not a bad movie, but it was a
disappointing movie for me. I've loved the dancing in Bob Fosse musicals on
stage and in his movie “All That Jazz.” However, in this movie, the dancing
is difficult to see much of the time because of the frenetic camera and editing
work. There are plenty of good dancers in the movie, including lead Catherine
Zeta Jones. However, because of the weakness of the other two leads (Zellweger
and Gere) or perhaps because these days movie makers think excitement must
always be generated by the cameras or the editors, this movie seldom lets us
see whole dancers (or groups of dancers) for more than a few seconds at a time;
we mostly get to see bits and pieces of dancers, cutting quickly from one bit
to the next piece. Neither Zellweber or Gere are bad at singing and dancing,
and what they do is impressive for untrained singers and dancers. However,
Chicago was never a very good musical. It depended on seeing the dance of top
flight talents and seeing them work together with precision and the Fosse
style. The Fosse style is largly lost in this movie, and we need Verdon or
Reinking instead of Zellweger (Orbach instead of Gere would also be nice).
[2003-02-08]