DVD info from Amazon
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Commentary by director Rob
Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon
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Deleted musical number "Class"
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Behind-the-scenes featurette
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Widescreen anamorphic format
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That's about all there is to it. Were you
expecting Anna Karenina?
Perhaps you didn't know that the saga of Roxie
Hart is, more or less, a true
story, or at least based on a true story. It was first made into a
black and white silent
movie in 1927.
The story was told
again
in 1942 with Ginger Rogers as Roxie Hart.
The 1942 version has a couple of musical numbers, but is not a
musical. (The real Roxie was a performer, so Ginger performs, but
only in the proper context.)
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The
Critics Vote
General USA consensus: three and a half
stars. The typical response was "just
short of 4 stars". Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli each
deemed 3.5 to be the correct star count, and Entertainment
Weekly was on the same course, with an A-.
UK consensus: three stars. Daily Mail
10/10, Daily Telegraph 9/10,
Independent 6/10, The
Guardian 6/10, The Sun 9/10, The Express 9/10, The Mirror
7/10, BBC 2/5. BBC's dissent brought the average
down.
The film was nominated
for eight Golden Globes, and won three including Best
Musical or Comedy. (Gere and Zellweger also won) . It was
nominated for 13 Oscars, winning six, including best
picture.
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The People
Vote ...
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Box Office Mojo. It was a blockbuster, grossing $170
million in the USA, and performing well overseas as well.
Budget was $45 million.
Miscellaneous ...
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The
Dalai Lama also reviewed the film, since it featured his
best known pupil, Richard Gere. He liked the film, which was
a surprise since it didn't feature his main gal, Tawny
Kitaen. (VERY funny review)
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| The meaning of the IMDb
score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics.
Films rated below five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one
and a half stars from the critics or even less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is. My own
guideline: A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. C means it will only
appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover
appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but
will be considered excellent by genre fans, while
C- indicates that it we found it to
be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre. F means that the film is not only
unappealing across-the-board, but technically
inept as well.
Based on this description,
it's a C+. It is impressively staged and
performed, but there's obviously no crossover appeal. It is for
musical lovers only. If you hate Fosse-style musicals, you will
hate this even more than usual, because it consists solely of
the characteristics you despise about those musicals in the
first place. I fell asleep more than once during this film! On the other hand, people who like
old-fashioned musicals with show-stopping dance numbers, praised
it to the rafters.
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