Another Oscars telecast, another wasted Sunday, said Tom Shales in The Washington Post. If you didn't watch Hollywood's annual orgy of glitzy self-congratulation last weekend, you made the right call. As usual, there were virtually no surprises or emotional high points to relieve the tedium of the nearly four-hour ceremony. Instead, mediocrity abounded. Though 'œcrisp and unpretentious,' Ellen DeGeneres paled beside such legendary past hosts as Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. 'œThe usually hilarious Will Ferrell, the semi-talented John C. Reilly, and hack Jack Black' sang an unfunny song about why comedies don't win Oscars. The Pilobolus Dance Theatre offered a baffling pantomime of 'œthe titles of films, or something.' Nearly 40 million people still tuned in, said Mark Caro in the Chicago Tribune, mostly for a glimpse of the gowns. Yet the whole ritual feels just plain tired. You have to wonder: 'œHow culturally relevant are the Oscars?'
Not very, said Joe Queenan in the Los Angeles Times. Every year, the Academy heaps laurels on 'œwidely ignored,' high-minded films (Half Nelson and Pan's Labyrinth, anyone?) while snubbing the movies people actually pay to see, such as King Kong and Meet the Fockers XV. When you gather a roomful of pretentious Hollywood types, all of whom think they're artists, no one wants to admit 'œthat the face of the industry is Adam Sandler and Ashton Kutcher,' rather than Helen Mirren and Daniel Day-Lewis. The Oscars have become an exercise in professional amnesia—'œthe night when the industry gets tanked up and forgets what it does for a living.'
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
