Ricky Gervais hosted the 67th Golden Globes Awards with the same prickly disregard for fakery he displayed when he appeared on The Tonight Show this past week [where he suggested that he plug all his projects up front in case NBC kicked Conan out a wee bit early].
When he was not-so-gently ribbing stars like Mel Gibson [“I like a drink as much as the next man – except when the next man is Mel Gibson”] and Meryl Streep whose double nominations got one of the best bits of the night [something about being “greedily nominated” for It’s Complicated and Julie & Julia], he was flogging the DVD releases for the complete series of the British original version of The Office and his latest film, The Invention of Lying – or his upcoming animated series, The Ricky Gervais Show [on HBO].
Anyone who took offence at Gervais’ banter clearly didn’t get that virtually every presenter was chosen because their upcoming work – a riff that Gervais chose to run with and plumbed, for the most part, extremely well. He even mocked the Globes ceremony by appearing at the podium with a beer – from which he took a gulp before carrying on.
For a change, the show was on time – no doubt propelled by Gervais’ energy and the relative absence of clumsily scripted banter for the presenters.
As for the awards themselves, there were more than a few surprises, like the funniest movie of the year actually winning the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, or Toni Collette collecting the award for television’s Best Actress – Comedy or Musical. And it was certainly about time that Martin Scorsese was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his body of work and his commitment to preserving great films for posterity. It’s too bad that Robert DeNiro and Leonard DiCaprio’s introduction were so boring…
In other cases [Sandra Bullock, Best Actress in a Drama for The Blind Side, or Julianna Margulies for television Best Actress – Drama for The Good Wife], the awards seemed like they might have been given to make up for past oversights. Others, like Robert Downey Jr. for Best Actor – Comedy or Musical for Sherlock Holmes, or Glee for Best Series, Comedy or Musical [though it certainly deserved the nomination], were just wrong.
Overall, though, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association got far more right than I expected and the show was about as entertaining as usual [though the year Ving Rhames won and got Jack Lemmon onstage and gave him his award is definitely a moment that’s hard to beat…].
Here is a list of the most important awards:
MOTION PICTURES:
-Picture, Drama: “Avatar.”
-Picture, Musical or Comedy: “The Hangover.”
-Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.”
-Actress, Drama: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.”
-Director: James Cameron, “Avatar.”
-Actor, Musical or Comedy: Robert Downey Jr., “Sherlock Holmes.”
-Actress, Musical or Comedy: Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia.”
-Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.”
-Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”
-Foreign Language: “The White Ribbon.”
-Animated Film: “Up.”
-Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air.”
-Original Score: Michael Giacchino, “Up.”
-Original Song: “The Weary Kind” (theme from “Crazy Heart”), (written by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett).
TELEVISION:
-Series, Drama: “Mad Men,” AMC.
-Actor, Drama: Michael C. Hall, “Dexter.”
-Actress, Drama: Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife.”
-Series, Musical or Comedy: “Glee,” Fox.
-Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock.”
-Actress, Musical or Comedy: Toni Collette, “United States of Tara.”
-Miniseries or Movie: “Grey Gardens,” HBO.
-Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance.”
-Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens.”
-Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: John Lithgow, “Dexter.”
-Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love.”
–
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Martin Scorsese.