584: Chicago (2002)

Six women charges with murder in Cook County and somehow they’re the ones putting on the show. This week we’re strapping ourselves into fishnets and existential dread for Rob Marshall’s musical about murder, media, and the sweet, sweet payoff of celebrity homicide. Renée Zellweger discovers that shooting your boyfriend is basically an open mic night, Catherine Zeta-Jones proves prison is just improv with worse lighting, and Richard Gere spends two hours doing legal tap-dancing — sometimes literally. Queen Latifah runs the cell block like a landlord who takes cash only, and every single musical number is somebody’s fantasy sequence because apparently nobody in 1920s Chicago can process trauma without a spotlight. We’re riffing courtroom theatrics, jazz-hand justice, and a plot that boils down to “fame forgives everything.” All that jazz, none of the remorse.

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How will Chicago hold up?

Directed by: Rob Marshall

Starring:

Renée Zellweger
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Richard Gere
Queen Latifah
John C. Reilly
Christine Baranski
Taye Diggs
Lucy Liu