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I believe this was the first DVD review I've ever done so excuse me if it's a bit archaic.
Main Characters
--Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a vaudeville performer who killed her husband and her twin sister for catching them in the act. She is prison trying to get out.
--Roxie Hart (Renee Zellwegger) is a hopeless dreamer who craves to be onstage. When she sleeps with a man who promises her stardom and find out he lied, she killed him. She goes to the same prison as Velma.
--Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) is the lawyer of both Velma and Roxie and tension arises when Billy focuses his attention on Roxie and sort of discards Velma.
--Mama Horton (Queen Latifah) is the matron of the Cook County Jail.
The Setting
1920’s Chicago.
The Movie
Roxie Hart wants to be a star. She’ll do anything, or anyone to become a star. She sleeps around with a man named Fred Casely, who promised her fame and fortune. When she found out that he lies, she shoots him. She gets her willing husband, Amos to confess to the murder but when he finds out WHO got killed, he rats Roxie out. Roxie of course heads to prison, the Cook County Jail. The Cooke County Jail is home to some of the most (in)famous murderesses, including Velma Kelly, a vaudeville performer who is on the hook for murdering her husband and her twin sister. These two woman are the main stars of the movie and show that they will do ANYTHING to get famous in 1920’s Chicago.
Roxie tries everything to make friends with Velma who hardly gives Rozie the time of day. Things start to turn around for Roxie, however, when she enlists the services of lawyer Billy Flynn. Billy has never lost a woman’s case EVER so Roxie likes her chances. Of course, Velma had been using Billy’s services but he forgets all about her while defending Roxie. This creates a certain hatred between the two murderesses. Roxie and Velma HATE each other. Billy creates this story for Roxie that they play up to the press to create sympathy for her. Things go awry though when ANOTHER murderess is brought in and it seems Billy forgets about Roxie while anticipating big money to get this other one off the hook. Roxie wisely fakes pregnancy to get the spotlight back on her though.
Of course, the trial is a joke and Velma gets her own freedom when she gets a copy of Roxie’s diary which someone printed some erroneous statements in it. Billy tap dances his way around it and gets Roxie off the hook too. Her fame quickly fades however when yet another murderess is found. Finally, Velma and Roxie team up to create their own show and that’s the movie. Of course, the plot it pretty simplistic, but people don’t go to Broadway shows JUST for the story. They want the music, the performance and that’s what this movie plays like: A Big Performance.
The director’s create this concept that perfectly intertwines the story and musical aspects of the film. You see, it would make no sense to just go from musical performance to the story, the film would have no flow. Instead, all the performances are seen as part of Roxie’s mind. She creates these musical performances in her mind, since all she thinks about is being on stage. It works wonderfully and is part of the film’s charm in my opinion. Great film and truly deserving of the 6 Academy Awards it won, including Best Picture.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Behind the Scenes Special
This is about a half-hour special much like the one they had on VH1 for a while. Not too much new if you saw that. There was a pretty cool part where you see a split screen of Catherine dancing in rehearsal and the actual scene in the movie where she does that dance. Other than that it’s just interviews with the cast and crew.
2) Deleted Musical Number “Class”
This takes place right after Velma realizes that Roxie stole her idea for the trial (the fainting etc), and before Mama gives Velma Roxie’s diary. There is also the option of listening to commentary by Rob Marshall, the director, and Bill Condon, the writer, and they say it was hard to cut. They cut it because it was dishonest from the concept (of it all being in Roxie’s mind). They had other ideas of Latifah on the piano in drag, or Catherine on the piano, or Roxie coming back from prison and them talking. The problem they say is that it’s not a vaudeville song but a book song. Another idea was to have the two in a crowd watching a striptease. They cut it because it also slowed the film down. They say it’s a great song but unfortunately they couldn’t fit it in.
3) Feature Commentary
I’ve never actually watched a movie with Feature Commentary before, so this is a first for me. Rob Marshall and Bill Condon do the commentary. It is a great feature and I really enjoyed listening in on the director’s and writer’s comments on the movie as it is playing. They talk the entire movie and I never got bored listening to them, how they transitioned from here to there, how they came up with certain lightings etc etc. You have to listen to it if you liked the movie.
4) Sneak Peeks
You get sneak peeks of: Duplex, Miramax New Golden Age, SoapNet, Chicago Soundtrack Spot and Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.
B) Audio/Video
The audio was perfect. It is recorded in Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 Surround Sound and sounds really good coming from my TV. The music mixes are very clear and it sounds like they are right in front of you live when they are singing. There were no major problems I saw in the picture. The colors are very vibrant and perfectly formatted to fit MY screen (I did get the widescreen version for reference)
Overall Review
Well, the movie was great, the audio and video had no real imperfections. I thought they were kind of light on the extras. I mean just the one cut, the behind the scenes and the feature commentary. I would have like to seen more of the things they cut as well as a blooper reel as I’m sure they had many. That said, the DVD didn’t offer THAT much more than your normal videocassette would. I enjoyed the feature commentary but you aren’t missing out if you don’t see it. The behind the scenes video I mentioned before is very similar to the one shown on VH1 and I think the VH1 version was actually longer. The only thing you’d like to see is the deleted scene of Class but that you could probably download somewhere or rent if you really need to see it.
Overall Rating
7.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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