Motion Picture
(Sony)
Those who saw Bridget Jones's Diary would have reacted with understandable dread when they heard Renee Zellweger was taking the female lead in a musical. You may recall her last turn at songstress: slumping drunkenly in her pyjamas and slippers, belting out All By Myself along to her stereo. Things looked bad. But Chicago has gone on to become a massive hit, garnering 13 Oscar nominations in the process. And while Zellweger is certainly no Liza Minnelli, she more than holds her own in front of a microphone.
The soundtrack doesn't deviate from the original score's classic Broadway blues and jazz roots - there's no shortage of sassy brass and the energy of the performances is palpable. The one addition is I Move On, a largely forgettable number apparently written for the sole purpose of attracting an Academy Award nomination for best original song - which it, unfathomably, has succeeded in doing. A rappy rendition of Cell Block Tango, featuring Macy Gray and Lil' Kim, also misses the mark (the unadulterated version is a cracker).
The standout performances come from Queen Latifa and Catherine Zeta-Jones, with the former proving she's no one-dimensional rapper (When You're Good To Mama) and Zeta-Jones' strong voice evidence of her excellent stage credentials (she starred in a London production of 42nd Street at 17). Richard Gere, you are the weakest link. He might play a silver-tongued lawyer in the film, but his singing merely grates. As he so aptly sings: 'Long as you keep 'em way off balance, how can they spot you got no talent?' Richard - you've been spotted.