No doubt echoing the sentiments of anyone who has seen "About Schmidt," a melancholy farce about a retiree on a roadtrip of self non-discover, Jack Nicholson accepted his award for Best Actor in a Drama at the Golden Globes last night by telling the audience, "I don't know whether to be happy or ashamed, because I thought we made a comedy!"

His win and another for the film's screenplay, by director Alexander Payne and frequent collaborator Jim Taylor, pushed the film into a higher stratosphere of Oscar contention going into the Academy Awards season. Meanwhile, Best Musical or Comedy honors for the super-cinematic musical adaptation "Chicago" and a Best Drama win for the Virginia Woolf-inspired "The Hours" catapulted those two films into front-runner positions for Best Picture nominations.

Those two films also garnered acting wins for "Chicago's" Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere (Best Actress and Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy) and for Nicole Kidman who was honored with Best Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of Woolf in "The Hours."

The evening's other multi-prize-winning film was "Adaptation," for which both Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep won supporting performer awards for their portrayals of a trailer-trash orchid expert and of Susan Orlean, author of "The Orchid Thief" -- the book "Adaptation" was originally supposed to be an adaptation of before screenwriter Charlie Kaufman got writer's block and turned it into a movie about a screenwriter trying to adapt Susan Orleans' "The Orchid Thief."

Because the Golden Globe Awards, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are handed out only a couple weeks before Oscar nominations are announced (February 11 this year), they have come to be considered a bellweather for the Academy Awards (which will be awarded on March 23).

Here is a complete list of winners in the motion picture categories.

Best PICTURE (drama)

"The Hours"

Best PICTURE (comedy or musical)

"Chicago"

Best DIRECTOR

Martin Scorsese, "Gangs of New York"

Best ACTOR (drama)

Jack Nicholson, "About Schmidt"

Best ACTOR (comedy or musical)

Richard Gere, "Chicago"

Best ACTRESS (drama)

Nicole Kidman, "The Hours"

Best ACTRESS (comedy or musical)

Renée Zellweger, "Chicago"

Best SUPPORTING ACTOR

Chris Cooper, "Adaptation"

Best SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Meryl Streep, "Adaptation"

Best SCREENPLAY

"About Schmidt," Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

Best FORIEGN LANGUAGE Film

"Talk to Her"

Best ORIGINAL SCORE

"Frida," Elliot Goldenthal

Best ORIGINAL SONG

U2's "The Hands That Built America" from "Gangs of New York"