My take on this year's Oscar were this: YES, overall they were dull. But mostly they were rude. I say stop rudely interrupting people in their acceptance speeches and LET THEM TALK. These are people who created amazing art from places of deep passion and inspiration and love. In many instances, it also came from deep places of pain and sorrow. And this was their moment to shine. So I say, LET THEM HAVE WHATEVER TIME it takes to express their joy, gratitude and appreciation.
I like hearing about the origin ideas. I like hearing that grief can become art that inspires millions of others. I like hearing gratitude expressed with true emotion, rather than hearing a generic laundry list of thank yous rattled off superfast that begins with the Academy and ends with 'my agent.' YAWN.
Why must the Oscar's telecast be so super-focused on keeping time that it removes human emotion from the event? Yes, the opening was fantastic and Neil Patrick Harris shines in this mode. But in the rest of the show, as the host who tells random zingers -- mostly unfunny putdowns about celebrities being rich and movies being bad -- he was totally unnecessary.
But it's not NPH's fault completely. I think the fault lies with the comedy aspects of the show itself. It is dated. It is a relic of another era. It is hokey, and about as funny as your belligerent drunk Uncle at Thanksgiving dinner. The host is basically always unnecessary on Oscar night after the big opening. Once he introduces the affair, he has nothing to do. And trotting him out to tell these ill-timed jokes is always awkward, in my opinion.
Let's put it this way, the Oscars are a big fancy, classy affair, and I'm not sure why the producers utilize the host to insult all his guests to their face throughout the event in the most inappropriate way. Like I said, it would be like inviting the entire family over for Thanksgiving dinner, singing them a beautiful song and telling them each how much they mean to you one minute, and then randomly roasting them the next. However, not in a humorous way, but with really bad jokes, and right after they opened up to you about their son's suicide or the recent death of their spouse. Know your room. Don't trot out a yuck yuck joke when the room is still emotional and swooning after hearing Common and John Legend sing Glory.
Because it's no coincidence that the highlights of the night were Lady Gaga's performance and the before-mentioned Glory, and anything that evoked true emotion, like Patricia Arquette's demand for equality for women, and Graham Moore admitting to a suicide attempt at age 16 and encouraging young kids to "stay weird, stay different" during his acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay (IMITATION GAME). Jokes can be funny to me when they are organic, but on this night, they are so obviously scripted by committee and dumped in at the most inappropriate times that they aren't funny (even if the comic writers scripting them are the best). Very few Oscar hosts are quick enough on their feet to write their own jokes that are timely and responsive (which is odd because people on Twitter sure can write funny fast), and as much as I love NPH, he ain't one of them.
So my advice to Oscar producers, because I know you're listening (LOL) is shake things up next year. Keep the affair classy. Start off with a big song and dance number and lose the ONE HOST idea. He/she isn't necessary. Lose the committee of joke writers. Not necessary. Have a bunch of comedians come out in the beginning after the big song and dance number and do their jokes and then you don't need to lob those lame zingers all night. They land with a thud and aren't funny after winners start opening up about the pain and sorrow that brought them on their journey. KNOW YOUR OWN ROOM, and start focusing on the HEART of the show, stop trying so hard, and allow it to happen organically and you'll have us all night to the finish line.
Comments