"Hey, Catherine, check it out. More pictures of your wedding."

Chicago, Hollywood's latest shot at the movie musical, is a joy. Smart and splashy, audacious and inventive, it grabs the audience and, to paraphrase one of its lead characters, "razzle-dazzles 'em."

If you're inclined to think of musicals as sweet and sentimental, think again. Adapted from the stage play by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb, with music by John Kander, Chicago is unrelentingly cynical and populated by a host of unsympathetic characters who aren't likely to be redeemed by the power of love.

Set in the 1920s, the movie stars Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, a showgirl wannabe who's stepping out on her poor shlub of a husband with a furniture salesman who claims to have "connections." When she finds out he's been lying to her, Roxie plugs the boyfriend and finds herself on Murderer's Row, run by the savvy Mama Morton (Queen Latifah) and home to another "Jazz Killer," Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Velma had been a headliner on the nightclub circuit until she found her husband and her sister doing things that husbands and sisters shouldn't do, and killed them both.

Angry gymnasts.

Enter media-savvy defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), who's never lost a case. "If Jesus Christ had lived in Chicago," Billy says, "and if he'd had $5,000, and had come to me, things would have turned out differently." He's Velma's lawyer and, after Roxie's husband coughs up the cash, he agrees to represent her as well. This is great for Roxie, but Velma, who finds herself bumped from the headlines, is a little miffed.

Director Rob Marshall stages the action in ways that wouldn't be possible in a live production. Most of the musical numbers are presented more or less within the characters' imaginations, intercut with the narrative and used to expand and comment on the story. This works brilliantly in some instances. I particularly liked "We Both Reached for the Gun," which has Zellweger playing dummy to Gere's ventriloquist as he feeds her story to the press corps puppets dancing on his strings; "Cell Block Tango" where the women of Murderer's Row tell us why their victims "had it comin'"; and Queen Latifah's sly "When You're Good to Mama." Of course, I'm not a real die-hard musical fan and I couldn't help feeling that there were just a few too many songs. A prime candidate for cutting would be "All I Care About," the song that introduces Billy Flynn but really doesn't tell us much about the character that we can't figure out from context.

Richard Gere rehabilitates another hooker in Pretty Woman II.

I have mixed feelings about Chicago's casting. Richard Gere seems a little slack for the high-powered defense attorney. He coasts when he should be charging ahead. Zellweger does a credible, if not particularly dazzling, job with the singing and dancing, but I would have liked to see Roxie with a slightly harder edge. Queen Latifah, on the other hand, nearly steals the movie with her big, silky voice. But the real star of the show is Catherine Zeta-Jones, whose ferocious, passionate performance should earn her a few award nominations. The woman can belt out a show tune.

With its energetic, imaginative staging Chicago makes a strong case for movie musicals. Like a good Jazz Age nightclub, it's a little flashy, a little raw and All That Jazz.

Gorilla Pants rating: 4 out of 4 bananas