A.O. SCOTT STOLE MY THUNDER - Here I was all set to announce my revelation to the world, and A.O. Scott goes and beats me to it": the best performance in 'Chicago,' the movie version of the popular Bob Fosse musical, isn't turned in by Catherine Zeta-Jones or Renee Zellweger, or even supporting scene-stealers Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly -- it's Richard Gere. An actor I haven't enjoyed watching in a movie since 'An Officer And A Gentleman,' Gere is fabulous as the fast-talking lawyer Billy Flynn -- and not because of his singing and dancing skills, although he acquits himself amiably. Rather, he is the only performer who actually shows that he can act, delivering a performance just showy enough for a Broadway bonanza while employing the same "naturalistic conventions of screen drama," as Scott puts it, to transcend mere showmanship. Actually, I'm not sure that I really appropriated Scott's remarks correctly at all, but that's why he reviews movies for the New York Times and I review movies for the seven people reading this right now. The audience I saw 'Chicago' with last weekend -- though, admittedly, mostly older women -- cooed and giggled at Gere's every line. Sure, part of this is due to his general hunkiness, but also because he earns every one of those affectionate responses with his charm. I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed his performance, especially when he was the actor I was most concerned about. Casting Gere as a sleazy lawyer always seemed like uninspired casting to me because it was just too obvious. As for the general criticisms of 'Chicago' -- that Zeta-Jones can't dance, Zellweger can't sing and the music isn't really that great to begin with -- I'll happily admit to ignorance when it comes to the criteria of what a good musical should be and simply say that I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. I found the music to be generally catchy (most are tunes you've heard a million times without knowing where they came from) and director Rob Marshall, who also choreographed the film, is smart enough to keep Zeta-Jones' movements to a minimum while Zellweger seems to have a delightful voice that actually compensates for an overall performance as Roxie Hart that is just slightly overdone. She's always "performing," playing a character who is clearly in a musical, unlike Gere's Flynn who could be transplanted to a "regular" film if he could only lose his nasty habit of bursting into song. I don't expect to find 'Chicago' anywhere on my best of the year list (more on that in a shortly), but it won me over, especially the way Marshall intercuts the musical and non-musical bits without having it seem cumbersome or confusing. The Brechtian device of having each song performed for an audience on a stage, separate from the "other" movie world being portrayed, with Taye Diggs as a sort of host who calls out each number, is smart and effective.

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