The “commie, homo loving sons of guns,” as Sean Penn put it during last night’s Oscar telecast, have spoken.
To be fair, the 81st annual Academy Award presentation wasn’t as political as we’ve seen in recent years. No Michael Moore sightings. No President George W. Bush to kick around anymore.
The annual telecast was more concerned with shaking up its own formula, desperate to bring back audience members who fled in recent years. The show bent over backwards to appeal to John Q. Public, trotting out teen sensations like Zac Efron and Robert Pattinson of “Twilight” fame and overloading clip montages with populist fare like “Wanted“ and “Iron Man.”
Oscar producers want to have it both ways.
They continue to honor only Serious Films and Important Biopics while dismissing comedy, action and other worthy genres. But they inject those genres into the ceremony via highlight reels meant to remind us why we love movies in the first place.
The show even included several wink-wink gags to remind us that, yes, they know the Oscars suffer a permanent disconnect with the public at large – ha, ha, no one has seen the movies we‘re about to honor! But they’d rather joke about it than actually fix it.
Until that happens, expect audiences to keep on dwindling. And the show’s cultural cache will recede in kind.
This year’s telecast did feel different. The stage twinkled a tad brighter and host Hugh Jackman brought some razzle dazzle to the affair. Jackman dispensed with the normal Oscar host duties – namely a comedy monologue meant to praise and sting Hollywood all at once.
Instead, he showed off his song ‘n’ dance skills and seemed like he was having a blast during the modestly engaging opener. For a while, his chipper mood proved contagious.
Some modifications worked wonderfully. Having five past best actor/actress nominees announce – and salute – this year’s chosen actors proved heartfelt and personal.
But audiences can only take so many obscure award presentations. By the halfway point that very Oscar sense of “is it over yet?” came flooding back, cosmetic changes be darned.
Early highlights included the late Heath Ledger winning for Best Supporting Actor for “The Dark Knight.” The camera flashed to a number of actors fighting back tears as Ledger’s family accepted on his behalf. The moment felt anything but inauthentic.
The biggest laugh came courtesy of Ben Stiller, clad in the Joaquin Phoenix 2009 collection – scruffy beard, dazed expression and utterly inarticulate.
Brilliant.
The night’s best hope for Oscar magic came courtesy of Jerry Lewis, on hand to accept an honorary Oscar. Eddie Murphy stepped on stage to prep the moment – he was a “Nutty Professor,” too, get it? But Murphy didn’t bring much passion to the assignment. And Lewis kept his speech short, either afraid of offending the audience or too frail to stand on stage for a lengthy dissertation.
President Obama’s favorite word, “change,“ came up as Jackman clumsily segued into an unnecessary dance number featuring Beyonce. What Oscar producers fail to grasp is that movie lovers love movies … not Broadway-style productions. But we get ‘em every year, like it or not. And they’re usually awful.
Even with Hollywood’s favorite candidate in the White House the community’s liberal ideology couldn’t be suppressed.
During the tribute section for those who passed over the last year, audience members could barely bring their hands together when the late Charlton Heston’s image flashed on the screen.
Maher, presenting the Best Documentary Oscar based solely on his one-sided “Religulous,” used his allotted time to smite religion. Note to Oscar producers: If you don’t want to alienate any more viewers, stop inviting verbal bomb throwers like Maher.
“Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black struck a less aggressive, more heartfelt note with his acceptance speech. He told gay viewers, “very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.” Naturally, Black didn’t chide President Obama for his opposition to gay marriage.
The erstwhile Jeff Spicoli smarmily greeted his fellow travelers while accepting his second Oscar, this time for his strong performance in “Milk: “You commie homo-loving sons of guns. I did not expect this, and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often, but I am touched by the appreciation.”
He went on to praise America for electing an “elegant“ president, as if that’s a key qualification for the Oval Office. Then again, if Penn were in charge, he’s probably import either Fidel or Raul Castro.
Despite all the changes, last night’s Oscar telecast felt … small. Where were Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Jodie Foster or Tom Hanks? Hollywood’s biggest night had precious few stars, and one suspects next year’s telecast will have even fewer viewers no matter how much “change” comes to the format.
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You know what I miss? Film clips! I didn’t stay up to see all of the show, but I noticed right off the bat, instead of showing film clip performances of the supporting actress nominees, they had 5 past winners of the award stand up there and give valedictories to this year’s nominees. BORING! I didn’t stay long enough to see if they did that with all the other nominees.
If Hollywood is making jokes about how few people saw the Oscar nominees, then how about showing us some clips from the films? I’m not sure how long they’ve been cutting out the clips, but I really miss them and think they add a lot to the telecast. Bring them back!
Bill Maher was by far the biggest buzzkill of the night (big surprise); as for not seeing Nicholson- I thought I saw him early on in the crowd, but I could be mistaken (the camera seemed more fixated on Brad and Angelina this year)…
I liked it. I even liked Jackman and Beyonce song and dance number, but I also liked “Mamma Mia!”
I also really liked Penn’s speach. I thought it was political without being offensive.
Overall, I thought it was entertaining, but my husband thought it was a snore.
Why bother to invite Bill Maher? He does what he always does … but this was not the night for it.
If Jack was there, he wasn’t part of the celebration like he usually is … that’s one Oscar tradition they should keep!
The missing film clips really hurt.
I really enjoyed the show last night. I have few complaints.
Ratings were up from last year, Mikey … and I appreciated the fact that they’re trying to improve the ceremony. Now if they only voted for better films and stopped ignoring modern classics like “The Dark Knight.”