@ Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, (312) 846-2600: The Irreplaceable Katharine Hepburn features films by the late actress such as Summertime – Aug. 26, The Philadelphia Story – Aug. 29 and 31, and Stage Door – Aug. 30 and Sept. 1
@ Landmark Century Center Cinema, 2828 N Clark, www.cuff.org: 10th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival – Films screened include The Last Fuck, ‘a goth queer punk tale of horror, death and love.’ Advance tickets available through ticketweb.com or by calling (866) 468-3401. Aug. 27 – Sept. 2
@ Music Box Theater, 3733 N Southport, (773) 871-6604: Auntie Mame – Aug. 30 & 31 (late show)
In theaters:
The Other Side Of The Bed (The Sundance Channel/Lion’s Gate): Working on the premise that everyone is bisexual and that it is perfectly natural to break into song when you have something to say, The Other Side Of The Bed is a contemporary update of the musical comedy with a few twists. Two heterosexual couples— Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and Sonia (Paz Vega) and Pedro (Guillermo Toledo) and Paula (Natalia Verbeke)—deal with infidelity in some unusual ways. Macho pathological liar Javier is cheating on Sonia with Paula. After Paula dumps Pedro, the pressure is on for Javier to the same to Sonia, but he drags his heels. To defer suspicion, Javier convinces Pedro that the man Paula is having her affair with is gay ex-boyfriend Daniel (Daniel Gonzalez). Unsuspecting Sonia’s friendship with lesbian actress and theater company head also causes Javier suspicion. Eventually the four friends reach a boiling point, which results in an affair between Sonia and Pedro and a tennis court smack-down between Javier and Pedro. Funny and occasionally unintentionally funny (some of the well-intentioned musical numbers are a bit clumsy), The Other Side Of The Bed may not keep you awake at night (although some of the more slow moving parts might cause viewers to doze), but it won’t give you bad dreams either. In Spanish with subtitles. (B)
On DVD:
Chicago (Miramax) – The multi-Oscar-winning big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Chicago is finally available on DVD. The long-time-coming movie version, which at one time was considered as a star vehicle for Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli, burns as brightly as brand new neon lettering on a theater marquee. Openly gay director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill (Gods and Monsters) Condon have given us a wonderful cinematic treat that maintains the spirit of the source material (including the role of the band leader, played by Taye Diggs, who introduces the musical sequences), while expanding on it in ways that can only be achieved on film. Renee Zellweger, in the best and most daring performance of her career, plays Roxie Hart, a married woman, in the early 1920s, who kills her lover and is sent to a women’s correctional facility where she comes in contact with nightclub entertainer Velma Kelly (Oscar-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones, slightly upstaged by Zellweger) who is doing time for killing her husband and her sister. Roxie is a quick study, and by the fourth or fifth number (which are brilliantly conceived as Roxie’s own fantasies), she’s working the system, which includes cozying up to Sapphic prison matron ‘Mama’ Morton (Queen Latifah), slick lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), her sad-sack husband Amos (the always wonderful John C. Reilly, whose rendition of ‘Mr. Cellophane’ is clearly magical) and even fellow inmate Velma. The musical numbers have a vitality and complexity that would make the late Bob Fosse proud, especially extravaganzas such as ‘When You’re Good To Mama’ (Latifah’s big introductory song), the legendary ‘Cell Block Tango’ (also known as ‘Pop, Six, Squish, Uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz’), and ‘We Both Reached For The Gun’ and ‘Razzle Dazzle,’ both of which feature Gere in a new light. The movie earns bonus points for casting Broadway’s original Velma, Chita Rivera, in a cameo role. The DVD gets a gold star for including the cut scene between ‘Mama’ and Velma, in which they perform the terrific song ‘Class,’ and for the informative commentary provided by Marshall and Condon. (A)
P.S. Your Cat Is Dead (TLA Releasing): Steve Guttenberg (of Three Men and A Baby, Police Academy and Cocoon fame) directs and stars in the long-awaited movie adaptation of the late James Kirkwood’s (A Chorus Line co-author) twisted novel and stage play P.S. Your Cat Is Dead. On the ‘worst day of his life,’ Jimmy Zoole (Guttenberg, who brings a jittery energy to the part), a way down on his luck playwright and performer living in Los Angeles, learns that his cat died while at the veterinary hospital, that his girlfriend Kate (Cynthia Watros) is leaving him, that his purse-string controlling Aunt Claire (Shirley Knight) is making New Year’s Eve party demands, and that his apartment has been broken into for the third time. What’s different about this break-in is that Jimmy has caught the gay burglar, Eddie (Lombardo Boyar), and rings in the new year by turning the tables on him. This DVD edition includes behind the scenes interviews, commentary by Guttenberg and cast members, and the ‘I can pay the rent’ alternate ending. (C+)