150 Word Review: 'All That Jazz' (1979)
Life really is a cabaret, old chum
Legendary chain-smoking, hard-drinking, womanizing Broadway choreographer and movie director Bob Fosse's All That Jazz is a 100% fictional character study about a legendary chain-smoking, hard-drinking, womanizing Broadway choreographer and movie director self-destructing on stage and off. Any resemble between this character and Fosse is purely coincidental
Lanky Rob Scheider can't boogie, but he oozes charm as a loveable but selfish slimeball. He plays Joe Gideon, a faithless pill-popping genius whose ticker ain't what it used to be. This brutal cinematic self-examination is a series of vignettes about Joe's fabulous, out-of-control life in gritty 1970s New York that builds to a heartbreaking final number.
Fosse's real-life collaborator/girlfriend, iconic dancer Ann Reinking, appears as Joe's lover. Ben Vereen is sinister as a figment of Joe's imagination, and Jessica Lange is the angel of death. There's plenty of sexy showbiz razzle-dazzle here, but ultimately, this is Fosse slow dancing with his demons.