The 2024 Oscars started five minutes late, but it was all downhill from there.
Perhaps this is a truly deserving and heartwarming winner, Ryan Gosling singing “I’m Just Ken” in a dazzling pink tuxedo, and John Mulaney performing a grueling three-minute stand-up routine to “Field.” , which may be a bit harsh for a show that features some truly deserving and heartwarming winners. Of a dream. ”
But the truth is, a year after Hollywood was shut down by two simultaneous strikes, and when new technology and economic headwinds are forcing the entire entertainment industry to reckon with an uncertain future, how did we become “Hollywood’s largest Why did they decide to broadcast such a bland broadcast on “Night of the Year”?
Oscar 2024 winners: See the complete list of celebs who won gold at the Academy Awards
The Oscars broadcast didn’t seem like a great night for anyone. It felt small, unimportant, and skippable. It did not match the urgency or relevance of the nominated works. Ken might be good enough, but Oscar certainly isn’t.
It starts from the top. Host Jimmy Kimmel, who wisely criticized celebrities for getting “Oppenhammered” over half-baked “Madame Web” rants and Trump jokes, ended his fourth stint as host. He may have been sleepwalking. He never intended to walk out with a show-stopping dance number, but he could have tried a little harder than giving a nightly monologue on ABC’s late-night show. Some of his little silliness may have made you laugh. Most of them were an elementary school teacher’s worst nightmare. I could hear it from one ear to the other.
But perhaps the bigger problem is that 90% of Sunday’s broadcast could have been from any year’s Oscars (or any awards ceremony, really). The gently tongue-in-cheek jokes, the predicted winners, the overlong and overwritten passages, the boring speeches: they’re so common that they make you sleepy.
The decision to have each of the five winners receive their own acting award was the wrong one, although it clearly made sense for the nominees. The clumsily scripted lovefest stopped the TV broadcast’s momentum in its tracks, took years to figure out, and replaced what actually belonged in that part of the awards presentation: clips of the nominated performances. Ta. Should we just believe in Jennifer Lawrence, the robot Lily Gladstone looked great in Killers of the Flower Moon? Please show me, don’t tell me.
The show was shorter than usual because it started an hour earlier than usual on a Sunday during daylight savings time, and despite the illusion that it ended around 10:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, the show was overall too long. Kimmel didn’t need much. There was no need for such a long introduction for the presenter. And somehow the “In Memoriam” segment, always the most divisive and scrutinized moment of the night, is too short and filmed in such a way that the names of the filmmakers being honored are difficult to read. I was there. The same problem happens every year and somehow they never learn.
The moment in the ceremony that really stood out was the only one that reminded us of what 2023 and the movie actually was. Moments like Emily Blunt and Gosling riffing on “Babenheimer” were summer sensations that may have saved moviegoing itself. Alternatively, Kimmel expressed solidarity with the writers’ and actors’ strike and the junior union IATSE’s upcoming labor negotiations. And of course, Gosling’s dazzling “Barbie” performance was an utter spectacle that easily provided the only good time of the night.
Actors and filmmakers may tout artificiality, but authenticity is key at awards shows, and it’s very hard to find a glimpse of real humanity among the glitzy Hollywood junk. But they were other moments of the night that transcended memorization and routine. Paul Giamatti sheds tears as he escorts Da’Vine Joy Randolph, his co-star from The Holdovers, who won Best Supporting Actress, on stage. Robert Downey Jr. thanked his lawyer for getting him out of prison at a small point in his life. The Japanese visual effects team for “Godzilla Minus One” took to the stage holding a giant action figure. Jonathan Glazer, director of the chilling Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest,” has called out violence in Gaza.
For some producers and hosts, a boring Oscar is much better than a boring Oscar, especially one where the ceremony is a disaster with slaps and the announcement of the wrong Best Picture winner. So perhaps everyone involved was satisfied with such an uneventful night (even though Emma Stone won Best Actress in a year similar to the La La Land/Moonlight fiasco). Even though it won awards and caused flashbacks for both Kimmel and the audience). But at a time when awards show ratings are down, it’s worth trying a little harder to convince people to spend their Sunday nights watching the rich and famous handing each other golden trophies. .
This is Hollywood, after all.These people should know how to put on a show. Otherwise, why are we monitoring?
