The 87th Academy Awards aired Sunday night, Feb. 22 for a seemingly endless 3 hours and 40 minutes. It wasn't the best of shows; it wasn't the worst of shows. It was sometimes funny, mostly dull with some cheer-worthy and misty-eye moments sprinkled in.
The ceremony started off strong with host Neil Patrick "At least he was better than Franco" Harris and Anna Kendrick in a big musical number joined by Jack Black belting some Tenacious D-style runs. NPH should've stuck with more musical numbers throughout the show instead of cringe-inducing one-liners and smirks. "This next presenter is so lovely, you could eat her up with her spoon" when introducing.you guessed it: Reese Witherspoon. No, thank you. Many other jokes were just as bad and there was no mention anywhere of the American Sniper fake-baby. There was an endless joke factory there but nothing. Nada.
The Grand Budapest Hotel won quite a few statues early on, giving Wes Anderson and crew some overdo recognition. The charming Paweł Pawlikowsk had the best "Never Give Up" moment when he spoke over, through and after the cue music when accepting the Best Foreign Movie award for Ida. John Travolta, trying to redeem himself for the great Adele Dazeem Catastrophe of 2014, creeped an entire nation out by making the whole new "Why won't he stop touching Idina Menzel's face?" Catastrophe of 2015.
Lonely Island performed a party-rocking performance of the nominated original song "Everything is Awesome" with Tegan and Sara, ?uestlove and Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. And Common and John Legend's breathtaking performance of "Glory" from Selma proved why it took home the award.
Newly engaged Lady Gaga was brilliant in a Sound of Music tribute, showing people her exploding vocal talent and that she is more than a pop star that once wore a meat dress. The tribute was fine but unnecessary and it took airtime away from the In Memoriam segment, something the Academy totally and completely dropped the ball on this year. Instead of the usual movie clip or photograph, the deceased were displayed in pictures done in watercolor illustrations reminiscent of Beach Hotel art. Some stars and moguls were unrecognizable in the Thomas Kinkade-esque portraits. We needed fewer clips of Julie Andrews and blonde singing children and more of James Garner, Mickey Rooney and Robin Williams. Even worse than not getting a Dead Poet's Society or Good Will Hunting clip was that many notable talents were left out; Elaine Stritch, Richard Kiel, Gottfried John, Jan Hooks, Taylor Negron, director George Sluizer and red carpet queen Joan Rivers all got the afterlife snub.
Award-wise, there were no real shocks. Birdman beat Boyhood. Redmayne beat Keaton. To no one's surprise, though I know not one person who has seen the film, Julianne Moore won Best Actress for Still Alice.
Though most of the show was snooze-worthy we had some amazing political and emotional acceptance speeches to keep us going. J.K. Simmons (Supporting Actor for Whiplash) reminded us to call our parents; Patricia Arquette (Supporting Actress for Boyhood) called for equal wages for women; John Legend (Best Song for Selma) brought attention to America's prison inequities and the most poignant acceptance speech of the night: Graham Moore (Adapted screenplay for The Imitation Game.) He said, "When I was 16-years-old I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And know I am standing here and so I would like for this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she's weird or she's different or she doesn't fit in anywhere. Yes you do. I promise you do. Stay weird. Stay different. And then when it's your turn, and you are standing on this stage, please pass the same message on to the next person who comes along."
We hope the Academy looks at this year's show and takes a little of Moore's advice. Next year, we could use a little more weird and a little more different.
This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2015.