Last night’s Golden Globe show was the most unpredictable awards show in recent memory. That is not to say the ceremony itself was particularly interesting. There were very few jaw-dropping, “I can’t believe s/he said that!” moments which make live TV so fun to watch.
Usually, awards-show junkies such as myself know who will win the major awards far in advance due to a certain critical and publicity-based consensus that emerges. This year, it was not clear who would win, which made it fun. The only shoe-in that won was Christian Bale for Vice.
Part of the issue was that a number of the nominees were in the wrong categories due to weird rules or the filmmakers’ submissions. Roma was ineligible for Best Drama so had to settle for Best Foreign Language Film – but then it won for Best Director, which is kind of a proxy for Best Picture given that the Best Picture category is split between Musical/Comedy and Drama. Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born were nominated for Best Motion Picture/Drama and not Best Picture Musical/Comedy. And Bohemian Rhapsody won, which was a surprise! I enjoyed that film, and while I don’t consider it particularly Best Picture-worthy, upsets are always fun.
Hosts Andy Samburg and Sandra Oh were good. Their opening monolog was witty – and mercifully brief. They both looked happy to be there and had good energy with the crowd and each other. They had a very fun (and short!) clip of “Memorable Moments at the Golden Globes” showing … when each of them won. I liked when Sandra Oh choked up praising “this moment,” in which so many projects featuring diverse casts were released over the past year.
The presenters were fairly uninteresting. Last year Maya Rudolph and Tiffany Haddish stole the show presenting at the Oscars. This year lightning did not strike twice, as Maya Rudolph was paired with Amy Poehler and did a parody of the live proposal at last year’s Emmy’s. It bombed.
Usually the lifetime achievement awards are a snoozefest but this year they were great. I loved Steve Carrell’s gracious introduction and Carol Burnett’s acceptance speech for the newly-created Carol Burnett award for excellence in television. Jeff Bridges, receiving the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award, went off on weird and unpredictable tangents which the crowd kindly tolerated. Other than his diatribe, and Glenn Close’s rousing girl-power speech at the end, the acceptance speeches were long and forgettable.
What I liked about this year’s Golden Globes was that the awards were dispersed across so many movies and TV shows. Out of 25 awards, 19 shows/movies were honored, which has got to be a record. Green Book received 3 awards, and Roma, Bohemian Rhapsody, Kominsky Method and The Assassination of Gianni Versace received 2 each. Everything else received only one award. When A Star is Born won for Best Song, we got to see Lady Gaga rock ice blue dress, hair, and makeup during her acceptance speech. Some of my acting faves won, yay Patricia Clarkston! I was very glad that Regina King won for If Beale Street Could Talk, as Barry Jenkins’ film as well as Spike Lee’s Black KkKlansman were otherwise shut out. Love that late-breaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse beat out both Pixar’s Incredibles 2 and Isle of Dogs for best Animated Movie.
It was great to see the awards so evenly spread out, it’s fun to not know who is going to win. Green Book, Roma and most of all Bohemian Rhapsody have gathered momentum from last night’s ceremony and Vice and A Star Is Born have lost steam. Given the lack of critical consensus, this year’s Academy Award race should actually be interesting. Hooray!
The Judge 