This was supposed to be the year the Oscars ceremony surprised us. Certainly, there were a lot of concerns that had to be addressed: Dipping viewership ratings year on year, a crippling recession and the dawn of a new politically correct, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Obama era. But all the pre-ceremony hype didn't pay off. Viewers didn't get a spectacular mind-blowing ceremony. Instead, that they got was a sometimes disastrous mish-mash of clashing styles and agendas. While the budget-conscious opener was a hoot, and Hugh Jackman's romantic Frost/Nixon turn with Anne Hathaway was promisingly hilarious, the next few hours proceeded to go swiftly downhill as the producers pulled out all the stops to try to overcompensate - instead of one presenter, they had 5; instead of one singer, they had the entire Soweto choir. Indeed, the Best Song segment, which Peter Gabriel wisely pulled out of, was an unmitigated mess as the 3 songs - 2 from Slumdog Millionaire and 1 from Wall-E were fused into a franken-medley. The inclusion of Indian dancers and the Chinese drummers made the whole segment reminiscent of a People's Association performance at our National Day Parade.
There were bright spots though: most notable of them all was the Pineapple Express segment which saw James Franco and Seth Rogen getting emotional at the year's nominees. And of course, the most groundbreaking of all was the generous inclusion of man-on-man kissing clips in a network programme, courtesy of the movie Milk. THAT was truly unprecedented, more so than the fact that Slumdog Millionaire won the Best Picture.
Other than that, the night's awards proceeded pretty much as planned, except for the Best Actor category which saw favourite Mickey Rourke pipped by Sean Penn (both men, I might add, deserved to win).
The gowns were glamorous, with the best ones being worn by Marisa Tomei in Versace and Anne Hathaway in Armani Prive. And Angelina Jolie, so glum and surly in recent red carpet outings, finally managed to loosen up, crack a smile and look glamorous. Her emerald earrings and matching ring were the clear winner in the Best Jewellery award, if there was such an award, to be trumped only by Mickey Rourke's pendant which featured a photo of his late dog, Loki.
Now that's a thought: Perhaps, in a bid to perk up next year's ceremony, the Academy could perhaps include a new category - for Best Dressed on the Red Carpet. Certainly, in recent years, the best dramas and surprises have happened there, before the Awards even begin.