Academy Awards Review: The Show Lost Its Luster Long Before Will Smith’s Slap
thewrap.com. This was easily the weirdest Oscars ceremony in years, and not, sadly, in a way anyone would ever want repeated.Before the Oscars even began, longtime enthusiasts were fuming over the Academy’s awkward and unnecessary attempt to speed up the show by announcing eight winners in the hour before the official start time, while the red carpet was still being aired.
Viewers could watch Jason Momoa getting interviewed on ABC about how excited he was to give out the awards while, simultaneously, watching him actually give out those exact same awards on cellphone footage on Twitter.Why, exactly, the Oscars wanted to re-create the experience of running late to the theater, knowing that you were already missing one third of the show, is a head-scratcher.
What’s more — aside from sending the disrespectful message that Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, Animated Short Films, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Documentary Short Subjects and Live Action Short Films were somehow less important than all the other categories — the scheme didn’t even work.Those awards uncomfortably edited into the ceremony at odd, dissatisfying moments — it genuinely looks like they forgot to cut to the Best Makeup and Hairstyling winner until the very last minute, confusingly making it the antepenultimate award of the night.
Worse, the show ran three hours and 42 minutes long anyway. (That’s the lengthiest ceremony since “The Shape of Water” won in 2018.)One might have expected some extra controversy to come from first-time hosts Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer, who are no strangers to shock humor.
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