Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) has dreams of singing and dancing her way to stardom. When Roxie's abusive lover tries to walk out on her, she shoots him dead and ends up in prison too. Billy recognizes a made-for-tabloids story, and postpones Velma's court date to take on Roxie's case. Infamy is Roxie's ticket to stardom. Billy turns her crime of passion into celebrity headlines, and in this town, where murder is a form of entertainment; she becomes a bona fide star - much to Velma's chagrin.

Hollywood, after numerous fits and starts over the years, has finally managed to get Bob Fosse's Chicago to the big screen. It was well worth the wait. Director Rob Marshall, buoyed by Martin Walsh's superb editing and Dion Beebee's fluid cinematography, perfectly captures the energy, sexiness and fun of the stage production, with minimal sacrifices and changes made along the way. Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters)'s screenplay may lack depth, but Fosse's keen observations of our society's obsession with celebrities remain intact, views that seem to be more relevant today than they did twenty-six years ago.

Gere, Zellweger and Zeta-Jones may all have seemed like odd casting choices for a movie musical, but as was the case with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge, they prove to be the right choices. Zeta-Jones makes for a perfect Velma; Zellweger is quite good as Roxie while Gere has a great time as Billy. John C. Reilly, as Roxie's sad-sack husband Amos, and Queen Latifah as prison warden Matron "Mama" Morton are both excellent in supporting performances. Lucy Liu appears briefly as another murderess that threatens to steal the media spotlight from Roxie. Her screen time is brief and she doesn't sing. Thank God for small miracles.

Chicago may lack the inventiveness and audaciousness of Moulin Rouge and the emotional punch of Dancer In The Dark, but it is great fun, filled with terrific performances, top-flight filmmaking and tunes that you'll be humming for quite some time afterwards. It's sexy, funny, smart...and all that jazz.

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