On Sunday, Jan. 12, millions tuned in to the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards. The Globes, hosted by The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, award outstanding film and television each year.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were hosting and seemed lackadaisical about the whole affair, if not indifferent. But it was probably the cocktails – it is after all “The Biggest Party in Hollywood.”
You could practically smell the brandy through the screen.
At one point Julia Louis- Dreyfus was shown wearing sunglasses while dramatically puffing on an e-cigarette.
Fun fact: This was the first year that the Globes had its own signature cocktail. It features Moet Imperial, cardamom syrup and pear brandy.
I assume The Hollywood Foreign Press was too busy testing that concoction all year to pay quite close enough attention to the films or shows slated for nomination.
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” a slapstick police comedy that features Andy Samberg’s detective hijinks in the 99th precinct of the NYCPD, somehow nabbed Best Actor for Samberg’s performance as Detective Jake Peralta.
Samberg was extremely surprised, his mouth ajar as he took the stage. After an, “Oh no!” he joyfully rambled off an unprepared but heartfelt list of thank you’s. As Samberg put it, “You guys, the Globes, right? Who knew?”
Even more astonishingly, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” then swept up the award for Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy over hits like “Girls” and “Modern Family.”
The show’s fate, as was implied in its acceptance speech, is uncertain, and its viewership, which was already low, has not fluctuated up or down since their wins at the Globes.
Thankfully, for the sake of the Internet, “Breaking Bad” went home with the award for Best TV Series, Drama. Bryan Cranston also took home Best Actor for his incredible performance in the show.
The Globes also pulled through in the category of Best Screenplay – Motion Picture, awarding Spike Jonze for his incredible work, “Her,” as well as in Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Jared Leto’s portrayal of the transsexual AIDS patient, Rayon, in “Dallas Buyer’s Club.”
In the category of Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy the contenders were strong. The award was sure to go to either Bruce Dern for “Nebraska,” Joaquin Phoenix for “Her” or Oscar Isaac for “Inside Llewyn Davis.” Instead, the globe disappointingly went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Many fans say it was a long time coming, but it was critically the wrong choice. His performance simply didn’t measure up this year.
Throwing DiCaprio the proverbial bone that is The Golden may have been a necessary nod after years of going unacknowledged, but it certainly didn’t uphold the artistic integrity of The Hollywood Foreign Press.
Perhaps the oddest, most controversial moment of the night, though, was the presentation of the Cecil B. DeMille award accepted by Diane Keaton on behalf of Woody Allen. The tribute to Woody Allen’s work seemed timely enough, and Keaton’s acceptance, while a tad eccentric, exemplified the beauty of inexplicably capturing an audience.
Shortly after the presentation, though, backlash from his family came hurling at The Hollywood Foreign Press – specifically from his son who tweeted his frustration with the tribute, asserting that it ignored Allen’s molestation allegations against his own daughter.
Audiences are now forced to reexamine their beloved modern classics and ask themselves if they can support the work of an alleged sex offender.
As the Golden Globes came to a close, “12 Years a Slave” won Best Motion Picture, Drama, quite predictably, and a-listers, as well as the stars of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” went off to drink more cocktails, and home- watchers went to bed confused, disappointed and with a new moral dilemma to contemplate.
