On Saturday night the Critics Choice Movie Awards were held live from Hollywood and broadcast on VH1. After the debacle also known as the People’s Choice Awards, the bar had been set pretty low. And yet, the Critics Choice Movie Awards may actually have been worse. The winners weren’t as egregious, but the production value was low and host Kristin Chenoweth was incredibly irritating.
The night began with an awkward clip package that had Chenoweth staring opposite director Quentin Tarantino. Meant to mock both the audience and Tarantino’s film Inglorious Basterds, the clip fell flat on just about every level. That failure continued throughout the night with every subsequent sketch that Chenoweth was asked to perform. But Chenoweth also walked the ballroom at the Palladium, which made for a number of situations where you could tell actors just wanted her to go away. I felt bad for Kristin because it was evident she hadn’t written her own material, but whoever had was a hack of epic proportions.
The poorly written material wasn’t reserved for Chenoweth though. Every presenter who took to the stage suffered the writer’s wrath. Jason Bateman looked like he was auditioning for a new Teen Wolf sequel, tenatively titled Man Wolf. This not to be confused with The Wolfman which is a joke unto itself. Amy Poehler and John Krasinski who were brought up to help reflect on the life of John Hughes, stumbled through poorly written dialogue that made little sense before a clip package began. Thankfully, the musical number the followed the package was much better. Special Guests Death Cab for Cutie performed a cover of “Don’t You Forget About Me” that was both heartfelt and true to form. However, Death Cab’s presence made Nick Jonas and the Administration seem even less necessary. Billed as the house band for the evening, the folks at home heard barely any of Jonas’ music. Every once in a while we would see Jonas right before a break but overall it just seemed odd to have him and the band there.
As for the winners, as aforementioned, they weren’t nearly as flagrant as the People’s Choice Awards but they weren’t perfect either. One might think that you could use the Critics Choice to help determine who will win tonight at the Golden Globes (which I will be live tweeting at twitter.com/iamwesley) but as EW’s Dave Karger points out that’s not really the case. Critics tend to give more votes to the dark horse, in this case The Hurt Locker. Hurt Locker won Best Picture and Kathryn Bigelow took the Best Director prize but Locker wasn’t the night’s biggest winner. Avatar took 6 of the 9 categories it was up for, which thankfully meant it won in predominantly technical categories.
The biggest disappointments of the night tended to come in the form of Up in the Air losses. The film won for Best Adapted Screenplay but failed to win anything else. The ever stunning Anna Kendrick and vivacious Vera Farmiga both lost the Best Supporting Actress Award to Mo’Nique, which irks me for a number of reasons. There was a tie for Best Actress that yielded wins for both Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep. Bullock’s acceptance speech was genuine but I really can’t get behind her winning anything other than a Razzie Award. The final disappointment of evening, at least for me, was Saoirse Ronan’s win for Best Young Actress. I’m not sure what the qualifications are to be nominated in this category but I feel like Ronan should have outgrown them already, especially in light of the fact that she was nominated for Best Actress as well. I would have much preferred the award go to Bailee Madison of Brothers.
A Full List of Winners Below:
Best Picture The Hurt Locker
Best Director Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Original Screenplay Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Acting Ensemble Inglourious Basterds
Best Actor Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress (tie) Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia; Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Young Actress Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Best Documentary The Cove
Best Foreign Language Film Broken Embraces
Best Animated Movie Up
Best Comedy Movie The Hangover
Best Score Michael Giacchino, Up
Best Song “The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart
Best Costume Design The Young Victoria
Best Make-Up District 9
Best Action Movie Avatar
Best Cinematography Avatar
Best Visual Effects Avatar
Best Art Direction Avatar
Best Editing Avatar
Best Sound Avatar
