Who says that murder's not an art?
wwww

Murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, treachery- all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts- are among the themes of this gloriously entertaining movie-musical, and rarely have they been sung about with such style. Perfectly blending the world of Broadway with movie drama, this is the story of Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) a blonde, cute, thoroughly manipulative young woman who dreams of being on stage. In pursuit of her dream she cheats on her husband Amos (John C Reilly) with Fred Casely (Dominic West) who promises to make her a star. Things don't go according to plan, and before long Roxie is on death row for the murder of her boyfriend while Amos negotiates for her release.

Sharing the cells with Roxie are Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who is awaiting trial for murdering her husband and sister, and a host of other women doing time for killing their significant others. On Roxie's first night she is introduced to them via the 'Cell Block Tango', the best, loudest, most vicious number in the whole show. 'He had it coming!' most of the women declare, demonstrating with red ribbons their preferred method of murder. 'He only had himself to blame!'

Quickly learning the ropes, Roxie nets herself a lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). He's Velma's lawyer as well, and the two ladies soon find themselves competing for his attention, the attention of the press that Billy has alerted to them, and the chance to avoid the noose. Richard Gere is really very good at playing an utter bastard and is clearly enjoying it, smirking and twirling his way gleefully through his musical numbers and singing his heart out. Queen Latifah as prison matron Mama Morton also deserves a mention; she has only one song and not much screentime but she makes a major impression.

Rob Marshall leads us right inside Roxie's hard, selfish soul: the colours are bright, the lights are shining and she's the star of the show.  Everything taking place inside Roxie's head is on a glittering, colourful stage, while out in the real world the colours are muted. There is just one song which doesn't seem to fit this pattern: "Mr. Cellophane" as sung (wonderfully) by John C. Reilly as Amos. It doesn't really make sense for it to take place inside Roxie's head, as she seems incapable of achieving that level of sympathy for her husband. Nonetheless, this is a minor quibble- the movie would suffer if the song was cut out.

It's easy to be blinded by the razzle-dazzle and forget the fact that Roxie really is a horrible person, happy to stab her nearest and dearest in the back for a shot at fame. Virtually all of our main characters are deeply unpleasant people, in fact, but they make unpleasantness look good.  Part of the fun of this film, ashamed as some might be to admit it, is getting to watch these characters perform the most manipulative and nasty deeds and yet for the most part get away with it. This does, of course, leave you mulling things over at the end of the film- the world is awfully quick to forgive 'celebrities', isn't it? Something to consider in times when people like Jade Goody and Paris Hilton still smirk from the front cover of every other magazine.

Often written off as a shallow sham by people who are perhaps forgetting a film's foremost purpose is to entertain, Chicago is the movie equivalent of an expensive box of dark chocolates. Settle down, admire the beautiful packaging, and enjoy.

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