Thanks to the Golden Globe Awards, these are the two hot films as we head to the Academy Awards. I decided to combine them for you in this review because they appeal to pretty much the same audience.
Both are about women and are aimed at the female audience. But they are very different movies. Let’s take “Chicago” first. And let’s be clear about this – this is a musical, there’s no getting around that.
It is the story of two 1920’s Chicago showgirls who are sent to prison for murder. The main character is Roxie Hart, played by Renee Zellweger. She killed her boyfriend after he failed to come through with a job for her at the local nightclub. The other lady is Gwen Kelly, played by Catherine Zeta -Jones. She is already a star at that nightclub and shot her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. The two women are represented by lawyer Billy Flynn. He’s played by Richard Gere.
I’m not into musicals and this one didn’t exactly bring me to a new realization about them. One more song by Richard Gere and I might have been out of there. But I did enjoy the main theme, which was about these women and their snaky lawyer using the power of the media to gain acquittals. It’s all done very grandiose and that tends to annoy me – it’s as if because they packaged these very tired and clichéd themes with bouncy music, rhyming lyrics and some fancy dancing, we’re all supposed to stand and applaud. That being said, the songs about Gere’s tactics and the ladies celebrity hungry superficiality were very good.
If I had to sit there and watch a musical, this isn’t the worst it could be – I give “Chicago” a “7.0” on the scale.
As for “The Hours”, it’s about women but rather than conniving, “celebrity wannabes”, the three in this movie appear more to be depressed, suicidal lesbians.
Nicole Kidman plays Virginia Wolfe, the author who was mentally ill and ended up killing herself. One of her books was “Mrs. Dalloway”, which is being read in the 1950’s by a suburban housewife played by Julianne Moore. She’s also rather depressed and is considering suicide. The third lady is positioned in present day and is played by Meryl Streep. She, at least, is in a lesbian relationship, but is still a bit depressed and seems to also be considering suicide. She apparently spends most of her time looking after her former lover who is ravaged by the AIDS virus.
Had enough? The performances are excellent, but the theme is troublesome and often hard to figure. But then again, I’m not a suicidal lesbian. It is really about women being put into positions not of their choosing. That I can handle. I’ll leave it at that and give it a “6.0”, but feel free to add a point or two if you relate to the material better than I did. I’ll stick with “About Schmidt” as the Oscar Best Picture, but who knows what will happen now.
