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| Courtesy of ABC |
I love the horse-race aspect of it all and it’s fun when my favorites win, but most people understand by now that viewing Oscar as a barometer of quality is ridiculous. (Remember when Crash beat Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture? What about when Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan?)
Jimmy Kimmel returned as host, delivering a solid opening monologue and trying hard to keep the proceedings free of unintentional drama. That’s somewhat understandable considering last year’s La La Land/Moonlight debacle, but it felt like the host, the producers, and the voters felt the need to drastically overcorrect this time around to make up for it.
As a result, practically all the suspense was sucked out of the ceremony and the awards themselves. Aside from Best Picture, which was – as fate would have it – the night’s big question mark, all the major categories went to the long-assumed winners (namely, Gary Oldman, Sam Rockwell, Frances McDormand and Allison Janney).
One of the most exciting parts of the show every year are the upsets, but there were none to be found. Well, unless you count “Remember Me” from Coco beating “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman for Best Original Song; but even that makes sense if you judge which song was better in the context of its respective film, not just the tune by itself.
There was also a lot of speechifying, as always. Still, anyone who complains that the ceremony was too political has clearly never watched the Oscars before. The winners have a long tradition of using their acceptance speeches to bring attention to important causes, but that’s even truer in the age of Trump.
That’s what happens when a reality show star with more than 300 IMDb credits to his name becomes president – entertainment and politics become more intertwined than they already were. While Trump was almost never mentioned by name, the entire ceremony – from montages to jokes to speeches – was a clear rebuke of his version of America.
The Shape of Water was the night’s big winner, taking home four awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score and Best Production Design. Still, as that relatively small number indicates, no film really dominated. It was more of a “spread the love” kind of night.
Although Guillermo del Toro’s hauntingly beautiful grown-up fairy tale wasn’t my favorite movie of the year (I was rooting for a Get Out upset that I knew probably wasn’t going to happen), it’s still great. Overall, not much to complain about. Here are a few other aspects that stood out to me during the evening.
A night of do-overs: From Kimmel’s laid-back hosting encore to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway presenting Best Picture again, it felt like a rebuilding year for the Oscars (if I’m allowed to use a sports metaphor to describe a decidedly unathletic competition). The constant reassurances that the grown-ups were back in charge, as well as a clear shift in the kinds of films that got nominated this time around made it feel like a turning point for an institution that’s nearly a century old. Will that prove to be the case? I guess we’ll see what happens in 2019.
Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph as presenters: Can these two brilliant comedians please host next year? They demonstrated Tina Fey/Amy Poehler levels of chemistry. Haddish also proved she was willing to commit to a long-term bit, once again sporting the same designer dress she wore when she hosted Saturday Night Live back in November. During that episode, she told the audience she spent $4,000 on the dress, so she planned on wearing it multiple times to get her money’s worth. She wasn’t kidding.
Best Song was stronger than usual: Some years it’s easy to understand why people suggest eliminating this category to save time. (Remember when Sam Smith’s godawful Spectre theme won in 2016?) This year, however, there were a strong crop of contenders that produced some memorable live performances. Mary J. Blige was terrific, as was the show-stopping Keala Settle. However, Common and Andra Day were flat-out incredible, turning their song from Marshall into a celebration of modern-day activism.
Surprisingly great montages: I usually think Oscar montages are a gigantic waste of time, one of the easiest elements to cut for a shorter ceremony. But this year, we got some fantastic clips of past winners in the intros to each of the acting categories. In addition, I was particularly moved by the powerfully persuasive segment that explained why cinematic representation matters.
Kumail Nanjiani, the hilarious actor, stand-up comedian and Best Original Screenplay nominee (for The Big Sick), delivered a strong contender for the night’s greatest line when he pointed out, “Some of my favorite movies are by straight white dudes about straight white dudes. Now straight white dudes can watch movies starring me and you relate to that. It’s not that hard. I’ve done it my whole life.”
Powerful speeches: It was an evening of strong, often poignant acceptance speeches, but Frances McDormand and Guillermo del Toro made exceptionally powerful arguments for the importance of art’s role in fostering social change. del Toro gets bonus points for his adorably cartoonish expression when he double-checked the Best Picture envelope. As you can imagine, the internet turned it into a gif almost immediately.
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