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9
17
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53
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66
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45
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61
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43
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66
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29
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23
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80
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61
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39
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xx
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30
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34
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60
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32
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27
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41
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39
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46
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73
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78
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55
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66
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69
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58
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47
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66
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34
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33
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54
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67
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51
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42
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28
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63
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86
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35
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48
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30
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53
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24
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83
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33
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45
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55
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47
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96
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35
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28
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88
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71
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67
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28
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73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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96
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56
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72
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39
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78
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xx
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58
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72
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76
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86
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13
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70
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71
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51
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76
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26
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57
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45
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81
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45
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xx
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69
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75
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82
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67
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71
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85
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56
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62
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74
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49
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80
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28
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xx
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50
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25
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50
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58
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72
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89
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52
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66
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81
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xx
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63
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73
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xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
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94
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29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
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61
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42
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70
It Might Get Loud
46
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19
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xx
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41
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41
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66
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34
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80
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83
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xx
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59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
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48
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73
Night and Day
66
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47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
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Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
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79
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40
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61
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77
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xx
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46
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39
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89
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50
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55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
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61
Trucker
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83
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66
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66
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70
Visual Acoustics
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67
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69
We Live in Public
64
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64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
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xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Chicago

Universal acclaim
Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 110 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Musical
Written by:
Bill Condon
Fred Ebb (musical)
Bob Fosse (musical)
Maurine Dallas Watkins (play)
Directed by: Rob Marshall
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 27, 2002
DVD: August 19, 2003
Running Time: 113 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Canada
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexual content and dialogue, violence and thematic elements
Starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Christine Baranski, Taye Diggs, and Lucy Liu
A new interpretation that takes the award-winning Broadway show into fresh and expansive cinematic realms, Chicago shifts adroitly from the reality of intrigue, rivalry and betrayal to spectacular fantasies of music and dance, offering tongue-in-cheek commentary on the cult of celebrity and the scandalous lengths to which people will go to attain it. (Miramax)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Memoirs of a Geisha
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
The singing and dancing in this Chicago are uniformly splendid, right down to Gere's tap dancing. The high wit and dark eroticism Marshall brings to the famous "Cell Block Tango" number are matchless.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
With its eye-popping color, bold personality and snazzy tunes, Chicago is a breathtaking experience.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Chicago is the zingiest, most inventive movie of its kind since "Cabaret."
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Isn't just the most explosively entertaining movie musical in a couple of decades. It's going to be the most influential: the one that inspires the rebirth of the Hollywood musical.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
A superior adaptation that bypasses the Ann Reinking version now on Broadway.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Sophisticated, brash, sardonic, completely joyful in its execution. It gives anyone who ever loved movie musicals, and lamented their demise, something to live for.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Not since the 1972 'Cabaret' has there been a movie musical this stirring, intelligent and exciting.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The movie is a total blast, and what a surprise.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
More than any other example in recent memory, Chicago shows how much the element of surprise is missing from today's movies.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The usually quiet Zellweger is the revelation: Like her character, the actress seems happily amazed to find herself crossing a polished dance floor, sheathed in silk and diamonds, having the naughty, self-glorifying time of her life.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
At times, Chicago has the feel of a revue, with the major characters taking turns at their own show-stopping numbers. If it's too much of a good thing, I say, bring it on.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Freshly transplanted from the stage, is a thrilling ode to the intertwined glories of sex, showmanship, and lying: what the film calls ''the old razzle-dazzle.''
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Exuberantly theatrical yet every inch a movie, and some numbers ("The Cell Block Tango") are so entertaining you might want to applaud.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Who would have expected Ms. Zellweger --- and Miramax -- to come through in a musical? And it's one of the few Christmas entertainments to run under two hours. Who couldn't love that?
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Throw bouquets at Marshall, who instead of dissecting it to death, neatly resurrects the Hollywood musical.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
For some reason, the people who make modern musicals don't like to let you watch dancers dance -- there are still too few moments when you get to enjoy choreography from a dancer's hands to her feet.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
An exuberant, appropriately cynical reinvention of the stalwart Broadway hit that deftly straddles the line between old-fashioned Hollywood musicals and experimental concoctions like last year's "Moulin Rouge."
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is a dazzling song and dance extravaganza, with just enough words to support the music and allow everyone to catch their breath between songs.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
First-time feature director Rob Marshall and Oscar-winning "Gods and Monsters" screenwriter Bill Condon have spun the dark tale of two murdering floozies into a widely palatable entertainment, but the long-gestating film comes up short in rhythm and personality.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Has so much razzle-dazzle that viewers may end up both raised and dazed. It's remorselessly inventive, trying anything fast and sassy to keep you watching. In other words, it's the most honest display of showpeople's need to be noticed this side of a Madonna concert.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Zeta-Jones can belt out her numbers, Zellweger can purr hers, and Gere-a musician who played his own cornet solos in "The Cotton Club"-can sell his songs and even dance a spiffy little tap dance. They're better than you'd expect-and so is the movie.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
By the end, though, the production is engulfed by barely controlled frenzy -- all decor and no air, music as lo-cal ear candy, scenes as merchandise to be sold, people as two-dimensional props.
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Non-musical scenes that move the narrative forward are staged realistically, while the lavish production numbers reflect the star-struck imagination of one-time chorine Roxie, for whom all the world ought to be a stage.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
The energy of the performances and John Kander and Fred Ebb's enduring score push the musical scenes and the entire film over any hurdle--yes, even including that misbegotten casting of Gere.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
It's Zeta-Jones who keeps you watching from start to finish -- You'd have to go back to Joan Crawford in her hungry prime, in films like "Rain" and "The Women," to find another female film star who grabs hold of the screen with such ferocity.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
The only player to conquer Chicago is Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is no Charisse in her motions but who gets by on a full tank of unleaded oomph. [6 January 2003, p. 90]
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
I realize that Fosse's dark sizzle might seem a bit dated today, but surely something halfway snazzy could have been devised for this movie. It's toothless.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
I seem to be in a distinct minority in finding the satire toothless, obvious, and insufferably glib -- Still, I found genuine pleasure in watching Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, and John C. Reilly try their hands at singing and dancing.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Dennis Lim
It's hard not to wish that Chicago had taken place inside a more imaginative head.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The trouble with Chicago is the sense it conveys that nothing is really at stake -- there's no moral or ethical question that can't be turned into toe-tapping fun.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The net effect of the incessant dazzle is depressing.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Phil Hall
Chicago is a failure, but that should not come as a surprise. Bob Fosse, who directed and choreographed the original 1975 Broadway production, was long baffled in making a film of the show and eventually gave up trying.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.9 (out of 10) based on 110 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
caporegime gave it a7:
It razzle-dazzled me.
Ronald B gave it a3:
The ladies are pleasant, the leading man replacable, the story forgettable and the musical "numbers" add up to zero. In other words, what we quite rightly expect from a contemporary musical.
Paul F. gave it a9:
I like this musical a lot more than I thought I would. The world has been due for some updated ones. I was surprised to see how well Rene Zellweger could sing. Also even more surprised that Richard Gere could sing even at all. Loved his tap dancing court scene. The cast was just about perfect for the movie and all the songs I'd love to own for my music library. Reminds me a bit of Madonna in Dick Tracy. I was also impressed at not only the choreography but also the lighting. *WARNING SPOILER* The Jones and Zellweger duo in the end with great with the tommy guns and popping lights. It was all so flashy with piazza. Chicago comes highly recommended in my book. It's one of these movies you can see ever so often and still be entertained.
Jay H. gave it a10:
Brilliant musical, one of the best ever made. The cast is amazing, the choreography is impressive, the cinematography, score, art direction - everything is incredible. Mesmerizing and magnificent.
Juan C. gave it a10:
This movie is one of the best musical ever made! High energy from the cast to crew makes this sizzle and makes the audience under the Chicago Fever.
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Amazing and powerful movie. Kudos to Rob Marshall for knowing how to integrate the language of drama and theatrical musicals with the language of cinema. Every minute was full of power, energy, and thoughtful direction.
Intermission gave it a0:
HOW CAN ANYONE SAY THAT THIS MOVIE IS GOOD. Perhaps the worst musical of all time. Richard Gere puts in his worst performance. And the songs suck.
