When Hollywood’s a mess, we all win
How many times can you read that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler killed it as the hosts of the Golden Globes Sunday night before you’ve read it too many times?
There are only so many ways to say, “They were really funny! They told great jokes!” We get it. They were funny, and what begs to be discussed is why they were funny. Their jokes resonate so well because Fey and Poehler have established themselves as the queens of comedy – nicely capped, of course, by Poehler’s win for Parks and Recreation later in the evening – and the bad-girl, best-friend combo who can say anything and get away with it. Their jokes, especially their opening monologue, gets under the skin just enough of their celebrity peers.
Take, for instance, the Meryl Streep joke. “Meryl Streep, so brilliant in ‘August: Osage County,’ proving that there are still great parts in Hollywood for Meryl Streeps over 60.” In a room still dominated by white men, Fey slyly tackled issues of gender inequality in the film industry. It came up again when Fey mentioned Matthew McConaughey’s weight loss for “Dallas Buyers Club” – “or what actresses call being in a movie,” in reference to the need for actresses to constantly be thin.
Plus, you have to love that Fey got her digs in at Taylor Swift once again by telling Poehler, after her win, that, “There’s a special place in hell for you” – quoting T. Swift’s earlier feelings about the duo from last year’s show.
Their jokes picked on what we already knew — Hollywood is a hot mess, and the rest of the night just backed it up.
Emma Thompson, on stage with a drink, was everything you could want from Emma Thompson. Established writer, excellent actress, casually tosses an incredibly expensive pair of shoes off while on stage to present the award for Best Screenplay. Top notch.
There was also something really excellent about Andy Samberg’s apparent surprise at his win, because I think he was with the rest of America in thinking, “Does anyone actually watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?”
Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon is still basically perfect. During the opening monologue, she kept trying to take a selfie with an in-character Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The Golden Globes have some of the sloppiest highlights of any awards show this year. It’s not likely that the Grammys will have this kind of intoxicated pall over them, and the Oscars take themselves too seriously to even open a bottle. So let’s be thankful that we have YouTube clips of Amy Poehler dressed up as Tina Fey’s illegitimate son to carry us through the rest of awards season. It’s all downhill from here.