The Players:

• Stephen Daldry (Director): Esteemed director Daldry’s best-known films include Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours, and The Reader (2008)—all of which earned him Academy Award nominations. He has also directed shows on Broadway [Billy Elliot: The Musical (2008-12), The Audience (2015), The Inheritance (2019-20)] and Netflix’s The Crown (2016-17).
• David Hare (Writer): The playwright’s best-known screenplays were The Hours and The Reader, which both earned him Academy Award nominations.
• Nicole Kidman (Virginia Woolf): Academy Award-winner Kidman’s credits around this time include Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Others (2001), Birthday Girl (2001), The Hours, Dogville (2003), The Human Stain (2003), and Cold Mountain (2003). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Moulin Rouge! and won for The Hours.
• Julianne Moore (Laura Brown): Academy Award-winner Moore’s credits around this time include Magnolia (1999), Hannibal (2001), The Shipping News (2001), Far From Heaven (2002), The Hours, Laws of Attraction (2004), and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005). She earned two Academy Award nominations in 2003 for her work in Far From Heaven and The Hours.
• Meryl Streep (Clarissa Vaughn): Academy Award-winner Streep’s credits around this time include Music of the Heart (1999), Adaptation. (2002), The Hours, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and Prime (2005).
• Also Featuring: Stephen Dillane (Leonard Woolf); John C. Reilly (Dan Brown); Ed Harris (Richard); Miranda Richardson (Vanessa Bell); Jeff Daniels (Louis Waters)
• Shout-outs to: Allison Janney, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Eileen Atkins, Margo Martindale

The Story:

The film begins and ends with Virginia Woolf’s suicide in 1941. The following events occur within one day in each time period with scenes alternating between all three.

Richmond, 1923: Virginia begins to write her novel Mrs. Dalloway. Her husband, Leonard, and her servants keep a tight watch on her due to the nervous breakdowns she suffered in London. Her sister, Vanessa, visits with her kids. She and little Angelica find a dead bird. Death is something that deeply occupies her mind. Longing to be in London, Virginia runs off to the train station. Leonard goes to her, and they argue about moving back to London and her mental health. 

Los Angeles, 1951: Laura Brown, pregnant with her second child, begins to read the novel Mrs. Dalloway. It’s her husband Dan’s birthday, so she and her son Richie bake a cake. Her neighbor Kitty visits and confesses her fears about going to the doctor that day. Laura drops Richie off with a babysitter, and he cries, fearing she’s leaving him forever. She checks into a hotel where she intends to kill herself. After she dreams of drowning, she awakes having resolved to live. She picks up Richie and goes home to celebrate Dan.

New York City, 2001: Clarissa Vaughn is Mrs. Dalloway. She gets the flowers herself. She visits her friend and ex-lover Richard who is receiving a prestigious poetry award that evening. Richard has been living with AIDS and is now emaciated and mentally unbalanced. Richard’s ex-lover Louis visits Clarissa while she prepares for Richard’s party that night, and they discuss their past affairs with Richard. Clarissa goes to pick up Richard. He tells her that he has been staying alive for her sake, before he kills himself. That night Richard’s mother, Laura Brown, comes to stay at Clarissa’s apartment. She doesn’t apologize for abandoning her family after the birth of her second child. She merely states that she needed to do so to live.

Why I Love It:

The Hours is my all-time favorite movie and it’s based on the Michael Cunningham novel, which is my all-time favorite book. Daldry and Hare do a brilliant job faithfully adapting the novel. Hare’s background as a playwright really shows in how he infuses short scenes with so much meaning, giving cast members who only have one scene plenty to work with.

Daldry has assembled an all-star cast here. Kidman truly embodies Virginia Woolf, and it’s a shame that we don’t have a biopic of her as Woolf. Moore really feels at home as a 50s housewife, suffering from the constraints of her life. Streep does a masterful job as she tries to hold everything together while it all grows more chaotic. Plus we get incredible scenes with Toni Collette, Jeff Daniels, Claire Danes, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, and Eileen Atkins.

Beyond just the cast, though, is the movie magic that weaves these storylines together. There’s the main opening sequence that shows how these women are connected through Mrs. Dalloway. Its brilliance continues as the film embodies the themes of Mrs. Dalloway. And let’s not forget Philip Glass’ incredibly beautiful score. If there’s such a thing as a perfect film, I think we have it here.

Bonus Content:

The Players:

• Rob Marshall (Director; Choreographer): Previously known for his work as a choreographer both on the stage [Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), She Loves Me (1994), Cabaret (1998)] and on TV [Victor/Victoria (1995), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997), Annie (1999)—which he also directed], Marshall would make his feature film directorial debut with Chicago, which also earned him an Academy Award nomination. He would go on to direct Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Nine (2009), and Into the Woods (2014).
• Bill Condon (Writer): Having recently won an Academy Award for writing Gods and Monsters (1998), he would receive another nomination for writing Chicago. Afterwards, he would write and direct Kinsey (2004) and Dreamgirls (2006).
• Renée Zellweger (Roxie): Zellweger was at her heyday at this point in her career. She received Academy Award nominations for Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Chicago before winning an Academy Award for Cold Mountain (2003). At this time she was also in Down with Love (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), and Cinderella Man (2005).
• Catherine Zeta-Jones (Velma): After her breakout performances in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Entrapment (1999), Zeta-Jones would appear in High Fidelity (2000), Traffic (2000), America’s Sweethearts (2001), and Chicago—which would earn her an Academy Award. After that she would go on to work on such films as Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Oceans’ Twelve (2004), and The Legend of Zorro (2005).
• Also Featuring: Richard Gere (Billy Flynn); Queen Latifah (“Mama” Morton); John C. Reilly (Amos); Christine Baranski (Mary Sunshine)
• Shout-outs to: Taye Diggs, Lucy Liu, Dominic West, Colm Feore, Susan Misner, Mya

The Story:

Roxie Hart dreams of being a showgirl. She has an affair with Fred Casely, who claims to have showbiz connections. But, when he tells her it was a lie, she shoots him in a fit of rage. She tries to get her husband, Amos, to take the fall for her; but he gives her up when he learns she was two-timing him. Roxie is arrested and taken to Cook County Jail along with other famous murderesses—like the infamous Velma Kelly.

Under Mama Morton’s guidance, Roxie hires acclaimed lawyer Billy Flynn, who is famous for getting guilty women acquitted. He trains Roxie on a campaign to reinvent her image and obfuscate the truth of what happened. But other, flashier, murderesses begin to steal her spotlight. So Roxie fakes a pregnancy to keep her trial case on track.

Billy gives ‘em the old razzle dazzle for Roxie’s trial. He manipulates the jury and the media with his showmanship. Both Amos and Velma are brought to the stand for sensationalist effect. Roxie is acquitted, but at the same time another woman shoots her husband on the steps of the courthouse. Roxie’s fame flickers away just as fast. It’s not until she teams up with Velma that they finally become a celebrated vaudeville act.

Why I Love It:

From the moment Catherine Zeta-Jones appears on stage to sing “All That Jazz” I was mesmerized. Just like Billy Flynn, Rob Marshall razzled and dazzled me with his adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical. His vision of turning the musical numbers into fantasy, vaudeville acts proved to be the best way to incorporate elements of a musical into a film without making it feel ridiculous. (Something he wouldn’t always be able to pull off in film.)

But for me, it’s Catherine Zeta-Jones who makes the movie. She really embodies the role of Velma Kelly. My absolute favorite moment in the film is when Roxie collapses on the floor and declares she’s pregnant. The camera cuts to Velma who mutters “Shit.” Zeta-Jones’ face in that moment is priceless. From that moment on I knew Zeta-Jones was my favorite actress.

Chicago is also the film that fully catapulted me into my obsession with the Oscars. Beyond my love for the ceremony itself was the joy of seeing Zeta-Jones accept her Oscar. And Chicago’s win (along with the success of 2001’s Moulin Rouge!) would fully revive the movie musical genre (Chicago was the first movie musical to win Best Picture since 1968’s Oliver!). It’s more than enough to earn my eternal love…and all that jazz.

Bonus Content:

The Players:

• Thomas Bezucha (Director; Co-writer): Writer/Director Bezucha’s other films are Big Eden (2000) and The Family Stone (2005). He also wrote the 2018 film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
• April Blair, Maria Maggenti (Co-writers): When Bezucha was brought onto the film, he and Maggenti did a draft of the film that had the characters as adults who pose as wealthy women on vacation. But executives wanted the film to skew to younger audiences. Bezucha and Blair rewrote the screenplay to satisfy them.
• Selena Gomez (Grace/Cordelia Winthrop-Scott): Musical Artist Gomez’s most notable acting works include Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12), Monte Carlo, andSpring Breakers (2012). 
• Leighton Meester (Meg): Still in her heyday as Queen Bee Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl (2007-12), Meester was attempting to branch out into film with Country Strong (2010), The Roommate (2011), Monte Carlo, and The Oranges (2011). Meester was also attempting to helm a career as a musical artist at this time.
• Katie Cassidy (Emma): Despite appearing in such films as When a Stranger Calls (2006), Black Christmas (2006), and Monte Carlo, Cassidy’s main claim to fame was on TV. She’s best known for her starring roles in Harper’s Island (2009) and Melrose Place (2009-10), an iconic guest star role on Gossip Girl (2010-12), and her work in The CW’s Arrowverse as Laurel Lance.
• Also Featuring: Cory Monteith (Owen); Pierre Boulanger (Theo); Luke Bracey (Riley)
• Shout-outs to: Andie MacDowell, Catherine Tate, Brett Cullen

The Story:

Grace’s dream of going to Paris is finally realized after her high school graduation. She goes on the trip with her friend Emma and her stepsister Meg. However, the tour they paid for is a major letdown, spoiling the mood for all. After losing their tour, they end up at the same hotel as British socialite Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, who looks identical to Grace. They overhear Cordelia’s plans to abscond from her responsibilities to go party, and they somewhat accidentally take over her itinerary.

Posing as Cordelia, Grace and the girls are flown to Monte Carlo for some charity events. Grace meets Theo, the son of the man who runs the charity, and her kind nature throws him for a loop (since Cordelia is known to be a spoiled snob). Meg spends time with charming Australian traveler Riley. And Emma flirts with a prince, despite having a boyfriend, Owen, back home.

Everything converges at the auction when Cordelia’s suspicious aunt summons the real Cordelia from her escapades. Grace’s deception threatens to overthrow the charity, but goodness prevails and no harm is done. Meg goes on adventurous travels with Riley. Emma rekindles her romance with Owen. And Grace, working for the charity, is reunited with Theo, this time as her real self.

Why I Love It:

Although this is by no means a technically “good” film, there’s so much charm in the silliness of it all. The story is a little overdone and really stretches our imagination, but it has heart. And though it has a very cheesy message, there’s much fun to be had along the way. 

The three women have such great chemistry as a trio. Gomez does quite an amusing job of pretending to be a British snob. Cassidy exudes her character’s Texan roots and reckless sensibility. Meester is at her best when playing a bitchy character. And taken altogether, the three of them work wonderfully together amidst all the antagonisms that lie between them (as characters).

Most important, though, is that this film brings me joy—pure, unbridled joy. The jokes are silly. The boys are cute. And the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s that energy that I respond to really well. This is a movie that can uplift my mood and bring me happiness, even in the dark days of quarantine.

Bonus Content: