Oscars Hit Just the Right Note

Posted on March 24, 2003

In light of the current war in Iraq, many people felt that the Oscars were just plain inappropriate. The red carpet arrivals with ostentatious displays of designer gowns and fabulous jewelry seemed a bit much when American, British and Australian servicemen and women are fighting and dying in Iraq. But the decision that the show must go on actually turned out to be a good one. Most of the actresses toned down their outfits quite a bit. De rigeur for the evening was a black dress, pulled back hair and no diamonds. To make up for the lack of glitter, most of the actresses accessorized with major cleavage. The host, Steve Martin, did an excellent job. He was funny and discrete, avoiding the obvious political issues of the day, choosing to focus on his famous audience for laughs. Sample: "The truth is, Nicole Kidman has actually worn a prosthetic nose in every one of her films, except The Hours. That was her real nose."

Of course, media watchers were all just waiting for the biggest blurt-out of the night. And, sure enough, we weren't disappointed. Instead of thanking anyone for his win for Best Documentary Film for Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore instead used his time to berate the audience about the "fictitious" war in Iraq (it looks pretty real to me) and our "fictitious" president, George Bush (he also appears to be real, as far as we can tell). I can only assume that Mr. Moore meant that he doesn't approve of Mr. Bush or the war, not that he doesn't believe that either Mr. Bush or the war is not actually real. I mean, honestly, if you're going to do a big blurt out at the Oscars, please at least use appropriate language and imagery; otherwise you run the risk of thoroughly confusing the audience. Mr. Moore was roundly booed and cut off by the orchestra, who had been instructed to launch into the theme from Shaft if anyone started making political commentary. Steve Martin noted that "there was lots of love backstage after Moore's speech; the Teamsters were seen helping Moore into the trunk of his limo."

In a marvelously graceful speech, Honorary Oscar winner Peter O'Toole outdid himself, thanking the United States for all it has done for him over the years. Nominated seven times for an Oscar, but never winning, O'Toole noted, "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride my foot. I have my very own Oscar now to be with me until death us do part."

There were two upsets of the night: Adrien Brody winning Best Actor for his performance in The Pianist and Eminem winning Best Song for "Lose Yourself", from the 8 Mile soundtrack, much to the apparent shock of presenter Barbra Streisand. The very pregnant Catherine Zeta-Jones looked fabulous as she accepted her Best Supporting Actress award for Chicago. Looking as if she was expecting her second child any minute, Zeta-Jones nevertheless managed to belt out a rousing rendition of "I Move On" with Queen Latifah. No word on why Renee Zellweger didn't do the number that she performed with Ms. Zeta-Jones in the film. She didn't look ill --- could there be any truth to those rumors that it wasn't really her voice in the film? Or perhaps she just doesn't want to sing live in front of millions of people? At any rate, she looked grand in her red gown, and has her Golden Globe award to keep her company, since the Oscar for Best Actress went to Nicole Kidman.

Chicago is the first musical to win an Oscar since Oliver, although that was no surprise, really. So, the seemingly endless awards season is coming to a close. Now we'll have to wait another entire year to see Hollywood put on the glam to congratulate itself on yet another job well done.