Oscars 2011 - aftermath

**pollyanna** · 03-01-2011, 02:06 AM

Rolling Stone calls it Worst. Oscars. Ever.

The much-promised "young and hip" Oscar telecast fell on its skinny, high-fashion ass last night. It's not that The King's Speech triumphed as Best Picture over my fave, The Social Network. I'm over that. Oscar is famous for unadventurous, comfort-food choices. Best Actor winner Colin Firth claimed the "stirrings" he was experiencing in the upper abdominal regions might make him dance. The stirrings I felt from the 83rd annual Oscar show made me want to puke. How could so many stars bore so many people breathless? Where to start?

**skatingfan5** · 03-01-2011, 02:34 AM

Originally Posted by pollyanna

Rolling Stone calls it Worst. Oscars. Ever.

Rogert Ebert said the same thing, but he didn't have to resort to saying "puke."

Midway into his story about the Oscar came this:

Despite the many worthy nominated films, the Oscarcast was painfully dull, slow, witless, and hosted by the ill-matched James Franco and Anne Hathaway. She might have made a delightful foil for another partner, but Franco had a deer-in-the-headlights manner and read his lines robotically.

Incredibly, when former host Billy Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs all evening. This was the worst Oscarcast I've ever endured. It's time for the Board of Governors to have a long, sad talk with itself.

At one point I tweeted: "If Bruce Vilanch is within 50 miles of the Kodak Pavilion, they should helicopter his ass backstage and put him to work." I was quickly put straight. Vilanch, the comedy writer responsible for countless great lines in Oscarcasts past, was a writer on this year's show. Since Franco and Hathaway lacked a single clever line, there must be an untold story.

He closed his article with:

Again, I have to say this was the worst Oscarcast I've seen, and I go back a while. Some great winners, a nice distribution of awards, but the show? Dead. In. The. Water.

**Rex** · 03-01-2011, 02:50 AM

Now I'm starting to feel sorry for James. He sucked, and he sucked bad, but I feel bad for him.

**dbell1** · 03-01-2011, 03:00 AM

Originally Posted by Norlite

Natalie was to wear Dior to the Oscars and changed at the last minute after the news of John Galliano spewing his anti-semitic remarks to diners at a Paris restaurant again. I say again, because last week he did the same thing which lead to a suspension from the House of Dior.

Then

Natalie did the right thing.

**IceAlisa** · 03-01-2011, 03:05 AM

I wanted to thank everyone who answered my questions about the time delay, Kirk Douglas' health and others. And also, thanks everyone for the fun pbp! So much better than the actual show.

**IceAlisa** · 03-01-2011, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by Rex

Ooooh, I cannot wait for Fashion Police with Joan Rivers tonight.

Please report what you remember. I can't watch it tonight.

Sorry for the double post.

**duane** · 03-01-2011, 03:09 AM

Speaking of upsets, one even bigger than Bacall was Richard Burton losing the 1977 BA award (for Equus) to Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl). Burton had won the Golden Globe, and it was his 7th Oscar nomination. It was assumed that 7 would be the lucky charm, and he supposedly was such a shoo-in that Elizabeth Taylor decided not to attend the ceremony because she wanted it to be "Richard's night". Well, it was Richard's night, but not the Richard she had in mind.

**my little pony** · 03-01-2011, 03:11 AM

i already hate the goodbye girl, now i hate it even more

**Lorac** · 03-01-2011, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by Rex

Now I'm starting to feel sorry for James. He sucked, and he sucked bad, but I feel bad for him.

Apparently he didn't even go to the post Oscar party he was suppose to be hosting - he fled back to Yale on the first available flight from LAX

**Rhianna** · 03-01-2011, 03:29 AM

Originally Posted by Lorac

Apparently he didn't even go to the post Oscar party he was suppose to be hosting - he fled back to Yale on the first available flight from LAX

The entire time all I could think is that he probably had a midterm today.

**centerstage01** · 03-01-2011, 03:31 AM

I can't figure out how, of all the people in Hollywood, James Franco's name even came up, much less be selected!

I felt so bad for Anne Hathaway because she was trying so hard to do well and be entertaining and instead it came across as manic and peppy x 10. If she'd had someone to play off of, like Hugh Jackman or Robert Downey, Jr., then I think she wouldn't have been trying so hard. I'm not writing her off (although I admit I'm biased because I like her) but give her someone to work with!

My best dressed vote goes to Jennifer Hudson, Hailee Steinfeld (not sure if I spelled her name right), Mila Kunis, Helen Mirren, and Halle Berry.

**duane** · 03-01-2011, 03:37 AM

Wow, I'm watching Fashion Police--which I haven't seen in years. I know Joan Rivers is known for being shocking, but now she is just plain vulgar!

**Rex** · 03-01-2011, 03:53 AM

Originally Posted by Lorac

Apparently he didn't even go to the post Oscar party he was suppose to be hosting - he fled back to Yale on the first available flight from LAX

He must be so humiliated.

Originally Posted by IceAlisa

Please report what you remember. I can't watch it tonight.

Sorry for the double post.

Joan is in rare form tonight - the snarks are coming out so fast, I cannot keep up!

So glad to hear her call Giuliana and Kelly on their fawning over Helena Bonham-Carter last night.

And this will be repeating all week, IceAlisa; you'll be able to catch up at some point.

**AshleyN** · 03-01-2011, 04:05 AM

I don't care how many worst dressed lists it ends up on, I love Cate Blanchett's dress. Not many actresses could have pulled it off, but she rocked it.

**genevieve** · 03-01-2011, 04:10 AM

I agree - the Oscars were boring this year. Anne probably could have done a better job with someone else, but I didn't think she was exactly spectacular either. The whole "hip and young" premise was a loser. I do wonder if Franco was affected by being a nominee. He seemed to handle it fine, but I think that was a mistake.

Speaking of mistakes, Kirk Douglas' time on stage was beyond painful. About as painful as when I saw Bea Arthur 'rap' with Urkel on some tv awards show 20 years ago.

I just saw a bunch of photos of stars from the after parties, and I can't believe it but Taylor swift (whose styling I usually find tragic) was far and away the best dressed/styled. Madonna and Lourdes were FRIGHTENING.

Of the Oscar outfits, I loved Jennifer Hudson, Hailee Steinfeld, Halle Berry. I wanted to like Mila Kunis, but it looked too much like she had really tacky tattoos on her boobs peeking out from under the dress. And it takes a lot of work to make Scarlett Johansson look that terrible

**Lacey** · 03-01-2011, 04:29 AM

I kind of agree with the people who think James Franco just tuned out and was not on drugs. I do believe that he was on the internet and Twitter, partially to seem like the young hip person the Academy wanted, but it only served to distract him and us. Perhaps he did it because he was bored with Anne (who might have a crush on him?) and the whole let's announce this person with this perky and tricky introduction the writers dreamt up. Most of the skits were dreadful, really, dressing in drag with her in a tux? If he is not an outgoing person and is as cerebral as those who get PhDs at Yale would seem to be, then I think he probably got in there and said, WTF, but couldn't get out of his contract, and, unfortunately, his quietness magnified the contrast with the ebullient Anne Hathaway, who blew up her behavior hoping to pick up the boredom everyone assumed we had for him, and only bombed herself in doing so. If you think about it, she kind of domineered the evening, did he ever have a chance? So, neither of them was horrible, just a terrible mix. He won't do it again, probably neither will ever be asked, but he also would turn it down in a hot minute. Here he probably thought he could make a couple of easy bucks for one night's work, but it backfired.

**Rhianna** · 03-01-2011, 04:42 AM

Originally Posted by Lacey

Here he probably thought he could make a couple of easy bucks for one night's work, but it backfired.

I don't pretend to know anything about James Franco and his motivations but from all we know about him, I doubt he did it for the money at all. He likes to try different things, challenge himself, and make fun of himself (General Hospital, anyone?). He was probably offered the opportunity and thought it would be something new to try.

**martian_girl** · 03-01-2011, 04:53 AM

I just felt like Hathaway tried way too hard and Franco didn't try hard enough. Maybe it just boiled down to bad material and a lack of chemistry.

If they wanted to grab the youth demographic, Justin Timberlake might not have been a bad choice to host. At the very least, we could have had a great musical number from The Lonely Island.

**Vash01** · 03-01-2011, 04:59 AM

Honestly, I don't care who emcees the show, and how. I am only interested in who wins the awards, and to some extent in the acceptance speeches.

**VIETgrlTerifa** · 03-01-2011, 05:01 AM

^^^ I agree. Not that there aren't things to criticize, but I find much of the complaints about any Oscar ceremony to be uber excessive. It's the whole TwoP culture coming out again. Haterz gotta hate I guess.

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