Well, the show is over and although The King’s Speech is celebrating its Award winnings, Oscar’s poor hosts are taking a lot of shots.
Yes, as with pretty much every year, the Academy Awards is one giant anti-climactic dud and the ones on the front line take most of the flack. This year that means both James Franco and Anne Hathaway should best be avoiding most critical write-ups in the papers this morning in favor of sleeping in late.
Of course, it’s not their fault the show was so uneventful. After all, the buzz builds up over at least 2 months so rarely are there any shockers by the big night’s broadcast. Plus, with the inclusion of technical awards (that many simply don’t care about) and the conventions of tradition and the mainstream media on which the show is broadcast, there is little hope for what was attempted in this year’s effort to interest a younger demographic.
Myself, I only made it about an hour into the show before I had to turn off the telly and get back to doing the dishes – a chore that actually seemed mildly less irritating by comparison at that point. So, in light of my disinterest, I feel I cannot criticize too directly.
Besides, as I mentioned, it’s no surprise that every year the Oscars is so predictable. I do however wish that the Academy wouldn’t kowtow to that “younger” audience. Or at least in the half-hearted way it did. I mean, sure you let Franco twitter away on stage but they still tried to dance with tradition by allowing 94-year old Kirk Douglas to run wild on stage and by creepily resurrecting Bob Hope from the dead. I kinda loved it but I’m sure those things were lost on that younger demo.
Simply put, catering to the youth is not what the Oscars are all about. That’s what the MTV Movie Awards are about. Otherwise Justin Bieber would’ve received an Oscar nomination for playing himself in Never Say Never or Miley Cyrus would’ve been up on stage thanking the Academy for her “Best Kiss” Oscar in The Last Song.
But nevermind me…here’s what a few of the mainstream media is saying about the Oscars show:
“There were a few laughs but very few surprises. Unremarkable.”
(Detroit Free Press)
“Once (Franco and Hathaway) began their live patter, it became clear the experiment had gone bad.”
(Time Magazine)
“(The) prolonged effort to pander to younger viewers was downright painful.”
(The New York Times)
“It was nothing to write home about – and sadly it’s hardly worth even writing about.”
(New York Post)
“This year, the Oscars hit a new low. Like it fell into a hole.”
(The Hollywood Reporter)
