Product Description

Winner of six Academy Awards(R) (2003) including Best Picture, and starring Academy Award nominee (Best Actress, CHICAGO) and Golden Globe winner (Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Renée Zellweger (BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY), Academy Award winner (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Catherine Zeta-Jones (TRAFFIC), Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actress, CHICAGO) Queen Latifah (BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE), Golden Globe winner (Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, CHICAGO) Richard Gere (UNFAITHFUL), and Academy Award nominee (Best Supporting Actor, CHICAGO) John C. Reilly (GANGS OF NEW YORK) -- CHICAGO is a dazzling spectacle cheered by audiences and critics alike! At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart (Zellweger) both find themselves sharing space on Chicago's famed Murderess Row! They also share Billy Flynn (Gere), the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. But in Chicago, there's only room for one legend! Also starring Lucy Liu (CHARLIE'S ANGELS).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #860 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-19
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.com
Bob Fosse's sexy cynicism still shines in Chicago, a faithful movie adaptation of the choreographer-director's 1975 Broadway musical. Of course the story, all about merry murderesses and tabloid fame, is set in the Roaring '20s, but Chicago reeks of '70s disenchantment--this isn't just Fosse's material, it's his attitude, too. That's probably why the movie's breathless observations on fleeting fame and fickle public taste already seem dated. However, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are beautifully matched as Jazz Age vixens, and Richard Gere gleefully sheds his customary cool to belt out a showstopper. (Yes, they all do their own singing and dancing.) Whatever qualms musical purists may have about director Rob Marshall's cut-cut-cut style, the film's sheer exuberance is intoxicating. Given the scarcity of big-screen musicals in the last 25 years, that's a cause for singing, dancing, cheering. And all that jazz. --Robert Horton

From The New Yorker
The time is the nineteen-twenties, but the setting is so stylized, so shamelessly grounded in a hundred other shows and films, that "Chicago" barely qualifies as a period piece; indeed, it merrily jabs at the celebrity-lust of our own era. Catherine Zeta-Jones is Velma Kelly, and Renée Zellweger is Roxie Hart. Each is a man-killer, and each resides in jail, plotting her defense with the silken legal help of Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). The music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb operate on the old-fashioned principle that every song should be a showstopper, regardless of whether the show should be stopped. The director, Rob Marshall, cuts away furiously during every song, and this chronic wish to glance aside makes us wonder: could the performers not weather the camera's unstinting gaze? The only player to conquer the movie is Zeta-Jones, who gets by on a full tank of unleaded oomph. The film has punch, but it never really conveys the delicious, redeeming sense that life can be lived on the hoof. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are ZUPER !!!!
That's right, Zuper! Zuper! Richard Gere was great as the manipulative, money-hungry, publicity-grabbing laywer Billy Flynn working to get Roxie Hart (Rene Zellweger) off of a murder charge. John C. Reilly's "Cellophane Man" was surprisingly entertaining. Along with of course, Richard Gere's great "puppet man" scene.

But Zellweger really steals the show. Well, along with Zeta-Jones' super performances. Catherine Zeta-Jones with a real "triple-threat" performance (like that of Zellweger) really helped put this movie over the top. What a pair of bombshells. The Duo's closing number is awesome. Super choreography throughout the entire movie.

Chicago

Wonderful dancing and story line. I especially thought the late scene where the two women come on stage brandishing their guns was funnee! A parody of their own lives.

Crisp and bright
Loved the film and loved it more on Blu-ray. Wish they'd put more than action/special effects films on Blu-ray!