Longer than the running time suggests - Chicago Reviews

Okay, lets face it. The Oscars have made two very recent mistakes in picking there best picture winners. 1998- Shakespeare in Love won for best picture over Saving Private Ryan. I don't care what anyone says, but Saving Private Ryan is a vastly superior movie, that should've won the award. The other mistake in 2002- when Chicago beat out (take your pick) The Pianist and Gangs of New York, both of which are far better movies. I have no problems with this movie when it comes to some of the acting and the story, but some of the direction in this movie is horrific to look at. In some shots, you can see the boom microphone, most noticeable is in a courtroom scene, when the Richard Gere character is talking to Roxy (Renee Zewellwegger). Other than a few scenes like that, and some akward editing (which he has to oversee), he does a good job in directing, in especially the musical scenes. My problem with the movie is that it feels twice as long as the running time says it does. I think the movie is 20 minutes short of 2 hours, but still it feels about as long as Titanic did. The problem with this is, is that the musical scenes come too often and too fast. Let's face it, there are too many of them. Just like a book adaptation, a musical adaptation has to be the same way. Both the movie and the adaptation can't be the same. The movie has to have more variety, because it can get very boring to watch. With a musical you know the musical scenes are coming, but with a movie, you too once again know its coming, but at least in a movie you can expect a plot. This movie even though the story is good, focuses too much on the dance sequences and not enough on the plot and direction. I reccommend this movie, but just barely. It's the type of movie that I could've waited to see on DVD.