Bob Fosse’s half-confession about what a jerk he was to the women in his life may pull a lot of punches, but there’s just too much art on the screen to completely disregard the effort. Roy Scheider stars as Joe Gideon, the Fosse stand-in, a Broadway director/choreographer and filmmaker juggling the mother of his daughter, the kid herself, multiple projects, and even more women—an unhealthy regimen that has him on the verge of a heart attack (and prone to musing about mortality). Although I don’t buy this as a real apology (it’s too full of women apologizing) and I’d be hard-pressed to say what Scheider brings to the endeavor, certain sequences make you realize why it was so hard for Fosse to admit he was full of himself. The rehearsal number “Take Off With Us” is a sweaty blend of stage practice and cinematic enhancement, while the climactic fantasy number set to “Bye Bye Love”—in which Fosse imagines his final moments as a televised special—simultaneously captures sheer showbiz effervescence and vulnerably human panic. It’s pretty clear from All That Jazz that Fosse, the co-writer and director, still wants you to love him more than loathe him. The film’s also good enough to make you consider it.
