Just when I thought that Natalie Portman’s outfit was going to be the very best thing about this show, it turned out that Ricky Gervais, as host, was wonderfully hilarious and it’s a shame that he couldn’t have just kept on going uninterrupted. The Hugh Hefner joke was great: “When his wife-to-be discovered Hefner was 84, she said that he lied about his age. She thought he was 94!” After a few interruptions to present awards, another really good joke: “And now, here is Ashton Kutcher’s dad, Bruce Willis!” What good timing for me since I just happened upon “Extras: The Illustrated Scripts: Series 1 & 2.” I’ll have to let you know how much I enjoyed that in a later post. “Extras” was a pure work of genius, a sitcom that came after the original “The Office” and well before the mega-fame that Gervais now enjoys. Of course, it was also lovely to see Portman win for Best Actress in “Black Swan.” She seemed to be channeling Sally Field’s “You really like me!” speech at the Oscars when she mentioned her fiancé, Benjamin Millepied, and said he really does enjoy sleeping with her. Ah, well, an odd moment but she managed to say it and make sense.
Best TV mini-series went to HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and not, perhaps to the dismay of fans of comic books, AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” But then there’s the win for “Big Bang Theory” for, and this is a mouthful, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical, to Jim Parsons. This is a show which, over the years, has been celebrated, whether in reality or not, as a geek fave. Or maybe the attraction to the show by geeks is genuine. What really did look for real was the support for Jim by fellow actor, Kaley Cuoco. Those two should get a room.
Something different and substantial that rang true for me was the win for Paul Giamatti as Best Actor in the movie no one has heard of yet, “Barney’s Version.” My take on the Hollywood Foreign Press’s goal is to promote the best in movies, not necessarily the most hyped, so this win sounds very sound to me. When was the last time you considered a novel by the great Mordecai Richler? See this movie, loosely based on his life, and then read one of his works. I’ve never heard of “Barney’s Version,” as most likely you haven’t either, but now you have, at least for the moment. Will you go out and see it or rent it? I will!
“Social Network” won as Best Movie as well it should! It also won for Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Score! Very good, indeed. What are you doing if you haven’t seen this by now! And how about the movie’s great screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin? This is one very dapper gentleman. Very cool, very smart and oh so modest. He has a brief role in “The Social Network” and he laughs it off in the DVD extras. But he was actually good. I think I might buy the DVD as well as the soundtrack. That was very cool to see Trent Reznor up on stage accepting his award.
Last good Ricky Gervais joke: “I’d like to thank my family. And a big thank you to God for making me an atheist.”
