Academy Awards Goes Mainstream

Been watching The Academy Awards presentation every year since 1975 and each time something of note or merit arises: a stray streaker here, a misplaced double-entendre there can make an otherwise predictable evening into a surprise treat.

Bloated, unnecessary, and uninspiring are already words associated with ghosts of Academy Awards presentations past. Usually, though, all four cannot be applied at once. Not so last night's fete.

From Ellen Degeneres' low-key monologue to Scorsese's unsurprising and uninspired win for The Departed, four hours dragged by with nary a highlight.

Don't get me wrong: Degeneres is a truly funny, gifted comedienne who livens any event. Good fit for the Oscars, too. She's unpretentious, sweet and just edgy enough to get away with skilled verbal jujitsu without offending anyone. Problem is, she didn't. Playing it safe, Degeneres opted instead for situational humor that never quite met its mark.

Neither did anything else the rest of the evening, except perhaps a song montage. Jennifer Hudson, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose stormed the stage, bellowing out all the pain and frustration the audience must've felt three hours into a lackluster show and, planting their Dreamgirls flag, claimed the evening as their own. It was a sight to behold. Dressed in varying shades of red, these ladies proved the Broadway musical still has a pulse, and some financial pull, in Hollywood.

Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the timeless Cinema Paradiso, winner of 1989's Best Foreign Film Oscar, created an impressionistic visual ode to celebrate 50 years of foreign film award winners. It was inspired and moving, featuring not only his beloved, classic masterwork, but such luminous films as Antonia's Line and 8 1/2. Accompanied by the haunting music of Ennio Morricone, who was awarded a lifetime achievement statuette for his musical work later in the evening, it was reminiscent of his work in the aforementioned Paradiso.

Yet even Tornatore's montage could be labeled safe.

In a show clearly designed not to alienate or tweak anyone's noses the end result lacked inspiration. It was deadly dull and in some places, insipid. A choir doing impressions of sound effects? Took a full minute or so before realizing this wasn't some sort of misplaced tribute to Fellini or, God forbid, a public relations stint heralding yet another sequel to Sister Act.

Scorsese's win as Best Director summed-up the entire vibe for the 79th Annual Academy Awards: been there, should have done something else.

Let's face it: The Departed is not, by any stretch, his best film. It's arguably low on the totem-pole when compared to Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas. All for which he received previous nods. The Departed comes in slightly ahead of the miserable Bringing out the Dead in terms of coherence and somewhere behind Gangs of New York in terms of stylization. With an overly convoluted plot, Nicholson chewing scenery to the brink of distraction, pointless, gratuitous gore and snippets of every other film he's directed tossed in for good measure, The Departed was an overlong mess of a movie.

Even the director's speech fit the evening's feel. No Halle Berry moment of extreme tears of Sally Field presentation of shocked gratitude from Scorsese, either. His alternately stoic and humorous acceptance speech dissolved into teary recognition of family and friends. While heartfelt, it too was predictable and safe.

Scorsese is a gifted director. He's just not at the top of his game with The Departed and this win was clearly a consolation prize. Like Wilfred Brimley pushing Grape Nuts, the Academy bestowed love on Scorsese because it was the right thing to do and the tasteful way to do it. In keeping with the overall theme of the evening: one could see his win coming from a mile away. Good thing, too, since most of the viewing audience likely nodded off about an hour before he took to the stage. Fact is, they didn't miss much.

View The Departed iFilm's trailer here: