They came, They saw, They were hysterical, when they were actually on stage, which wasn’t often.
The Golden Globes has always been the drunken uncle who you see once a year at Thanksgiving. They provide the laughs, the awkwardness and help kick off the award season with some much needed fun.
However this year, the Golden Globes decided to grow up and want to be taken serious, to mixed results. You expect seriousness from the Oscars but when there’s an open bar of Champagne going on at the Globes you expect a little more par-tay. Maybe it was the absence of Jennifer Lawrence or maybe it was just that politics were overshadowing Hollywood this year, whatever the case, I laughed less and thought more this year.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler came back in roaring for their third year as hosts. But it seems someone at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association decided to sideline the ladies in favor of expediting the first awards show of the season.
Let’s break down the best and worst moments of the Golden Globes.
Best: The opening. I mean these ladies can do it all and then sum. Only Tina Fey can open the show by slamming the entire room, “Good evening and welcome you bunch of despicable, spoiled, minimally-talented brats!” Poehler also got get in a dig at Bill Cosby that was met with just the right amount of mixed reaction, when she said, “In Into the Woods, Cinderella runs from her prince, Rapunzel is thrown from a tower for her prince, and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby.”
Worst: Jeremy Renner. When it came time for the Marvel superhero to present with the never aging wonder that is Jennifer Lopez, he couldn’t help but point out that, “you’ve got the globes too.” See this is what drinking games were made for. Points to JLo who laughed it off like her BFF had just made a drunken faux paus.
Best: Gina Rodriguez. Talk about a story made in Hollywood. Becoming the first CW actress win a Golden Globe is huge. Who’d have thought the pregnant Latina character Jane Villanueva would win an award that evaded eternally fashionable Serena Van Der Woodsen and the center of vampire romance Elena Gilbert. Rodriguez proved to be the down to earth class act in her acceptance speech when she said, “This award is so much more than myself. It represents a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes.”
Worst: Fifty Shades of No Chemistry. If soccer moms and twentysomethings everywhere hoped to see 4th of July fireworks on stage when Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan presented together, well they were in for a disappointment. Frankly John Mayer had better chemistry with Taylor Swift then those two did. By the looks of things, I predict disappointed moviegoers come Valentine’s Day.
Best: Margaret Cho. Mad props to her for staying in character all night as the fictitious North Korean general Cho Yun Ja. From crossing the stage before Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig came on to present to her photo op with the one and only Meryl Streep. If this wasn’t a test run for next years award, it was at least a welcome highlight from the show. Here’s hoping she keeps her promise of hosting next year.
Best/Worst: Why so serious? The night was filled with political and social commentary. From Common’s speech when he accepted the award for Best Original Song, “…I am the two fallen police officers killed in the line of duty. Selma has awakened my humanity.” To Amal Clooney’s badge that said, ‘Je Suis Charlie’. I kept wondering how long until the show would become a full blown PSA for every news making cause.
Best: George Clooney. Talk about a good sport and let’s face it the classiest man since Cary Grant. He managed to turn his reception of the Cecil B. DeMille award into a platform for others. Where he paid tribute to the stars lost in 2014 and to his wife Amal. “I couldn’t be more proud to be called your husband.”
To be frank I feel like the bar set by Tina and Amy on their last year as hosts was like the nice goodbye of senior year. I was left wanting more from the show and am only more anxious to see what Neil Patrick Harris has in store for the Oscars, which would undoubtedly feel more fiesta than PSA than in years before.
Full list of winners:
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA: Boyhood
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Michael Keaton, Birdman
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Amy Adams, Big Eyes
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA: The Affair
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Transparent
BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Fargo
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA: Kevin Spacey, House Of Cards
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA: Ruth Wilson, The Affair
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey
BEST MINISERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Fargo
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL: Gina Rodriguez, Jane The Virgin
BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE: “Glory”, Selma
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: How To Train Your Dragon 2
