Everything that's wrong with this movie is probably the fault of the Production Code, which stated (in part) that murder had to be punished by the final reel. This meant, of course, that if Roxie was to have a happy ending, Roxie must be innocent (as opposed to merely acquitted). This takes all the bite out of the character and removes most of the tension from the courtroom scene (although they put some back in by having the one person who witnessed the shooting conveniently die before he could testify). Renee Zellweger's Roxie Hart was common, manipulative, ambitious, and utterly ruthless. Ginger Rogers' Roxie is "spunky" and a bit of a flirt (not TOO much of one, though; she's still a "good girl" who ultimately wants to raise a passel of kids). "Roxie Hart" is an engaging, zippy little comedy, though, and much of the dialogue was quite funny (I was surprised by how many great lines from "Chicago" were based on "Roxie Hart"), and the running gags with the photographers were fun. But as satire it has no real bite. I suspect that Ms. Watkins' original "Chicago" was closer in spirit to Bob Fosse's version, but that would have been too dark for the Hays Office so we get "Roxie Hart" instead. Pleasant, and worth checking out if you're a fan of either Ginger Rogers or the musical "Chicago", but basically fluff.
Review of Roxie Hart
