I watched the last part of the Academy Awards (from Jerry Lewis onward) live and then went back and used TiVo to get through the first part in well under an hour. It seemed like a decent show to me. I think a lot of people expect the Oscars to be something they can never be. I mean, a lot of the show is about giving awards to people who do Art Direction and Sound Editing. The folks in those categories are totally deserving of their moments in the spotlight but there's a limit to how much entertainment value you're ever going to realize from those portions of the show.
The idea of having five presenters in the acting categories struck me as a good one. Some time ago here, we did a little poll on who they could get to present who might be exciting. The consensus seemed to be that no one living person would be that exciting but that certain combinations of presenters might make things extra special. I think it did, though some of the dialogue — the little speeches where past winners told the nominees how brilliant they were — seemed a little excessive.
The audience ovation for Jerry was moving but the honoree almost looked like he was back on the Percodan. I half-expected him to lapse into his profound mode and say something overly schmaltzy. Instead, he said very little and you got the feeling the audience was disappointed he wasn't more like Jerry Lewis. But good for the Academy for finally honoring a guy they should have recognized decades ago…and wasn't it nice to see one person on that stage who'd been in the business longer than Steve Martin? (Yeah, I know there were a few others. But it sure didn't feel that way.)
Hugh Jackman seemed like a pleasant-enough host. The guy's impossible to dislike…and the irrelevant music number wasn't as bothersome as they usually are since the show moved along at a good clip. It ran 3 hours and 30 minutes, which is probably what its producers were aiming for. Yes, I know they said 3 hours in the listings but that's just what they put in the listings. They never really intend it to be that length. I also liked the fact that I didn't see anyone get played off in mid-speech because their thank yous were running long.
I was surprised that Sean Penn bested Mickey Rourke for Best Actor…and I got the feeling everyone else was too, including Sean and Mickey. Penn's speech seemed a bit clumsy and inelegant, and also unnecessary given the earlier, more moving acceptance speech from Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the screenplay for Milk. I agree with what Penn said but wish he'd said it better.
All in all, it was a pretty good show…at least if you make good use of the Fast Forward button on your TiVo or VCR remote. If you found it dull, you oughta try my method.