Oscars: Reviewing the revue - maybe you had to be there (THR, TW, ENV, VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Reactions from reviewers of the 81st Academy Awards were somewhat mixed to say the least. The Hollywood Reporter comments that producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark pulled off a "heartfelt, elegant and stylish affair that played with uncommon flair over ABC." The Wrap disagrees: "The 81st Academy Awards suggested how, as an annual TV event, the Oscars could become extinct - and frankly, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea...Nothing - nothing - on this telecast worked."

THR:

The newfangled touches were in the main a towering success because they put the Oscarcast's focus back where it should be: on the nominees and winners rather than some thematic salute to yesteryear.

First-time host Hugh Jackman received mixed notices for his performance:

The Envelope:

Somewhere in New York, a huge weight has been lifted from David Letterman's shoulders. As Sunday night's Academy Awards began, Hugh Jackman's opening number (pardon me, but did he sing the words "pubic hair"? At the Oscars?) has surely obliterated all memory of the Uma-Oprah thing.

Variety:

It was a high-energy party fueled by frequent surprises, a socko host stint by Hugh Jackman and some memorable acceptance speeches...Jackman kept the momentum going by entertaining the aud with jokes, songs and anecdotes during commercial breaks...When Sunday's show worked, it was gangbusters.

Jackman's lighthearted opening production medley is said to have played better in the room than on TV, however.

VAR:

Others can decide how Sunday's event looked on TV, but for the 3,000-plus attendees Sunday night, it was terrific. As Danny Boyle said in his acceptance speech, "I don't know what (this show) looks like on television, but in the room it's bloody wonderful."

TW:

It's one thing for Billy Crystal to come out in a Dr. Lecter mask and joke his way through a parodic melody - it's quite another to open with a number in which a movie about an assassinated gay politician is represented by a routine that looks like the campiest sort of gay bar theatrical.

ENV:

Now I'm sorry, but didn't we decide, like as a nation, that Big Dance numbers were a blight on the Oscars telecast? Weren't they, in fact, the first thing to go in the '90s when the show swept past the four-hour mark and everyone decided that things had Gone Too Far? So someone explain to me please why we were forced to watch a chorus line tap-dance in sequins on a staircase when the actual nominated songs were cut down to a medley.

Still, even the harsher critics found something to praise:

ENV:

There were a few things to like about the new and "shaken up" 81st Academy Awards. Lowering the stage did make us feel closer to the glittering main-floor audience, having favorites such as Will Smith and Sarah Jessica Parker deliver lively explanations about sound editing and costume design was refreshing, and the James Franco-Seth Rogen "tribute" to the comedies of 2008 was hilarious. The inclusion of snippets from the actual nominated screenplays was also cool.

TW:

What cut through all this, though, were the faces of the young cast of "Slumdog Millionaire" as it racked up win after win. It was, like the visage of Dev Patel as the film's young hero, the unjaded look of people who believe themselves transplanted to Wonderland.

Related Links

TV Review: The 81st Annual Academy Awards (THR)
New, Improved Oscarcast: Appalling, Thank You (TW)
The Oscars show itself was puttin' on the fritz (ENV)
The 81st annual Academy Awards - From the Kodak Theater (VAR)
The 81st annual Academy Awards - From the Couch (VAR)