Oscar night
February 26, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Chicago Sun-Times
The Oscars wouldn't be the Oscars if they weren't a big liberal fest of feel-good backslapping. Not only was Al Gore the star of the best documentary winner, but Leonardo DiCaprio asked Gore onstage if he would run for president in 2008.
"I'm just here for the movies, Leo," Gore said seriously.
But then DiCaprio pressed Gore, and Gore taunted the crowd.
"You've been very convincing," Gore said. "So my fellow Americans, I'm going formally announce my intentions to ..." And then that Oscar speech-interrupting music chimed in to cut the Gore joke short.
It was a fine little broadcast of a typical Oscars tone (snooty/trying not to seem so). Maybe it was because 2006 was a mediocre film year, but the Academy glammed up the broadcast with Gore gags and music interludes. Other highlights and lowlights:
THE HOST: Ellen DeGeneres' best line was liberal, the one about people named Oscar. But it was also funny when she said her dream was always to host the Oscars, not to win an Oscar.
"Let that be a lesson to you kids out there: Aim lower."
GOOD SINGING AT THE OSCARS? Yes. Three comic actors -- Chicago native John C. Reilly, funny Will Ferrell and normally overrated Jack Black -- sang a tune about how comedian-actors don't get respect.
Ferrell: "I guess you don't like laughter and a smile brings you down/A comedian at the Oscars is the saddest, bitterest, alcoholic clown."
The final chorus: "So Anthony Hopkins, you can laugh/But someday, you'll see/Helen Mirren and an Oscar will be comin' home with me."
CUTEST COUPLE: Maybe "Little Miss Sunshine's" Abigail Breslin, 10, and Will Smith's son Jaden, 8, should have been co-hosts. They announced two awards for short films (Abigail and Jaden are short, ha ha). And they were more relaxed and composed than just about anyone else, including DeGeneres, but then anxiety is part of Ellen's shtick.
BAD START: The opening sequence was a well-meaning mess. In a prerecorded bit, nominees talked about what it has been like to win and lose in the past. But ABC didn't flash up names of these nominees. We all know what Eddie Murphy looks like, but who were these other losers?
MY FAVORITE WINNER: Alan Arkin for best supporting actor. I've loved Arkin's fatherly, funny work ever since I was barely older than a zygote and saw him in 1974's "Freebie and the Bean." How weird that such a forgotten comedy is one of my oldest movie memories, but it's because of Arkin.
I was so happy after seeing him in "Freebie," I went skipping through the rain with my friend Roxanne.
BY DOUG ELFMAN
Chicago Sun-Times
The Oscars wouldn't be the Oscars if they weren't a big liberal fest of feel-good backslapping. Not only was Al Gore the star of the best documentary winner, but Leonardo DiCaprio asked Gore onstage if he would run for president in 2008.
"I'm just here for the movies, Leo," Gore said seriously.
But then DiCaprio pressed Gore, and Gore taunted the crowd.
"You've been very convincing," Gore said. "So my fellow Americans, I'm going formally announce my intentions to ..." And then that Oscar speech-interrupting music chimed in to cut the Gore joke short.
It was a fine little broadcast of a typical Oscars tone (snooty/trying not to seem so). Maybe it was because 2006 was a mediocre film year, but the Academy glammed up the broadcast with Gore gags and music interludes. Other highlights and lowlights:
THE HOST: Ellen DeGeneres' best line was liberal, the one about people named Oscar. But it was also funny when she said her dream was always to host the Oscars, not to win an Oscar.
"Let that be a lesson to you kids out there: Aim lower."
GOOD SINGING AT THE OSCARS? Yes. Three comic actors -- Chicago native John C. Reilly, funny Will Ferrell and normally overrated Jack Black -- sang a tune about how comedian-actors don't get respect.
Ferrell: "I guess you don't like laughter and a smile brings you down/A comedian at the Oscars is the saddest, bitterest, alcoholic clown."
The final chorus: "So Anthony Hopkins, you can laugh/But someday, you'll see/Helen Mirren and an Oscar will be comin' home with me."
CUTEST COUPLE: Maybe "Little Miss Sunshine's" Abigail Breslin, 10, and Will Smith's son Jaden, 8, should have been co-hosts. They announced two awards for short films (Abigail and Jaden are short, ha ha). And they were more relaxed and composed than just about anyone else, including DeGeneres, but then anxiety is part of Ellen's shtick.
BAD START: The opening sequence was a well-meaning mess. In a prerecorded bit, nominees talked about what it has been like to win and lose in the past. But ABC didn't flash up names of these nominees. We all know what Eddie Murphy looks like, but who were these other losers?
MY FAVORITE WINNER: Alan Arkin for best supporting actor. I've loved Arkin's fatherly, funny work ever since I was barely older than a zygote and saw him in 1974's "Freebie and the Bean." How weird that such a forgotten comedy is one of my oldest movie memories, but it's because of Arkin.
I was so happy after seeing him in "Freebie," I went skipping through the rain with my friend Roxanne.
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