Chicago

Friday, May 8, 2009 17:36 | Filled in 1. MOVIES - OVERVIEW

Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, Dominic West and John C. Reilly
Director: Rob Marshall
Writers: Maurine Dallas Watkins, Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb and Bill Condon

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The musical Chicago is directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and won six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture. The musical takes place in Chicago in the 1920s and centers on Velma Kelly, a sexy professional club singer and Roxie Hart, a chorus dancer who wants to be a famous star.

Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) who is married to a good hearted but dull husband, visits a nightclub where Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is performing the song ”And All That Jazz”. Roxie is having an affair with Fred Casely (Dominic West) in hopes that he will help her to become a star. But when Roxie realizes that Fred is not going to help her, she becomes furious and kills him. Later she tries to put the blame on her husband Amos (John C. Reilly), but he along with the police see through her plan and Roxie is arrested and brought to the Cook County Jail.

Meanwhile, Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is arrested after the nightclub show for murdering her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. When Roxie arrives to the murderess row in the jail, she meets Velma who has already become the woman in charge at the Jail row.

Roxie wants Velma’s lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to get her off the hook and convinces her husband to talk to him. Billy aggrees to take Roxie’s case and to get her off by using the press to get public sympathy.

Together, Flynn and Roxie manipulate the press and make Roxie look like the victim in the case. Roxie becomes famous and the new celebrity of the Cook County Jail, to Velma’s disgust.

Velma, who is desperate to get back into the spotlight, tries to talk Roxie into opening a show with her once they get out of jail , but Roxie arrogantly refuses and mocks Velma. The two murderess women become rivals since both of the want to be number one star, but suddenly both their luck turns when a new killer named Kitty (Lucy Liu) enters and grabs the attention…