The Golden Globes took place last night, and over the course of the evening there was a little something for everyone.
Like being told what stuff to enjoy? Then you’ll be pleased to know that Avatar, The Hangover, Robert Downey Jr, Meryl Streep and Glee all won awards. Like the old Golden Globes traditions? Then you’ll be pleased to know that the camera kept cutting to Jack Nicholson‘s face, even though he continues his slow transformation into a rascally sphere of pulsating cholesterol.
And then there was the Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais. If you like Ricky Gervais, you’ll be pleased to know that his performance was nothing short of a comic masterclass. Don’t like Ricky Gervais? Then you’ll be pleased to know that he was absolutely rubbish. Apparently.
The Golden Globes has a reputation for being a loosey-goosey cousin to the Oscars. Sure, it might act as an important bellwether for anyone keen on predicting Oscar winners, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously – acceptance speeches are drowned out by the sound of millionaires drinking champagne, Jack Nicholson will inevitably get his bum out and Sharon Stone can often be seen wafting about looking unsure of how to interact with anything. Which tends to be the case anywhere Sharon Stone goes, admittedly, but at the Golden Globes at least she does it in a pretty dress.
But ahead of last night’s Golden Globes, there were two main questions on everybody’s lips – who would win, and would Ricky Gervais be amazing or terrible as host? Let’s address those one at a time.
1 – Avatar ended up winning Best Drama, The Hangover won Best Comedy, Robert Downey Jr won for Sherlock Holmes, Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side, Jeff Bridges won for Crazy Heart and Meryl Streep won for Julie & Julia. That last prize was in the coveted Boring, Needlessly Complicated Films About Unlikeable People Doing Mediocre Things, Often In A Silly Voice category. Presumably.
2 – He was both.
No, really, Ricky Gervais was amazing and terrible. It just depends who you listen to. Take Radar, for instance – this is how it described Ricky Gervais last night:
British funnyman Ricky Gervais, was on fire Sunday bringing the laughs from the audience with a risque and hilarious introduction, taking time to make digs at NBC and their ongoing Leno/Conan fiasco, a theme of the night at the awards show and on the red carpet.
While ABC, on the other hand, opted for a different stance. Working under the headline Ricky Gervais Falls Flat At Golden Globes, it said:
Gervais’… opening minutes were disappointingly toothless. He tackled predictable subjects: satirizing self-promotion by plugging DVDs for his own creations; tossing off banal generalities about the unimportance of actors; small-penis yuks, and of course, NBC potshots. But Gervais flew through all of them so fast he didn’t land a blow, let alone draw blood.
So there you have it. Ricky Gervais was hilarious and crap at the same time, often during the course of the same joke. So now you know what to say when anybody asks you what you thought of him. Alternatively, you could have just watched the Golden Globes ceremony in its entirety and formed your own opinion about him. But you’re not an animal, are you?
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Melodie says
I didn’t think everything he said was hilarious, but his Mel Gibson joke (combined with fleeing the stage) was pretty great, I thought.
As for rushing through stuff, all I know is this is the first awards show I’ve ever seen that finished on time. Maybe they threatened his wife or something.