Sometimes you just have to hand it to the mainstream. Chicago is a riot as a big glossy movie (although I can't vouch for the West End production starring some bloke from Eastenders). Kander and Ebb's songs are a sassy splash of satire, much more scathing and cynical than you might've inferred. Queen Latifah edges in among the Tinseltown divas, and numbers like "Razzle Dazzle" and "We Both Reached For The Gun" rasp with wit and pizzazz.
Dick Lester's faithful two-part version of Dumas' adventure tale has truly imaginative action sequences, a cracklingly witty screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser, swashbuckling heroes (Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay), OTT villains (Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee), a fantastic supporting cast (everyone from Charlton Heston to Spike Milligan) and a visibly huge budget. Wonderful stuff.
Riding the ever-popular straight-man-gay-world comedy wave (see Happy, Texas, Three To Tango, In And Out), debut writers, actors and co-producers Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen add a distaff twist with their tale of a bi-curious gallery manager and her impulsive fling with a neurotic Jewish copy editor. The lines are witty, the nods to Annie Hall ubiquitous, though the resolution is strangely conservative.
