And The Oscar Losers Are...

Posted Monday, March 25, 2002 at 12:35 PM Central

by John Couture

Now that we know all the winners from last night's 74th Annual Academy Awards, it's time to reflect and dig a little deeper. What follows is one man's take on the madness that is the sixth months of the movie awards season.

Let's start at the top, as they say. Is it just me, or will the image of Whoopi Goldberg on a trapeze be burned into the collective retinas of at least three generations of children? And speaking of a long time, the Oscars broke many records last night, not the least of which was the longest show ever, clocking in at a robust four hours and 23 minutes. Here's a thought, next year just show all the nominees for Best Picture in their entirety. It's bound to save you a few minutes at least.

Of course, there were other firsts last night. Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the first African-Americans to sweep the evening's top two acting prizes. The only other African-American actor to win a lead acting Oscar is Sidney Poitier, who won the Best Actor Oscar for 1963's Lilies Of The Field. All I have to say about that is that it's about time.

Of course, Halle Berry's win was significant for a much less poignant reason as well. Berry's win continued an interesting trend that is emerging in recent years in the Best Actress category. Four out of the last five recipients of the Best Actress Oscar have appeared nude in their winning roles (2000, Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry; 1999, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare In Love; 1998, Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets). The only exception to this trend was last year's win by Julia Roberts for her turn in Erin Brockovich, but she did use a prosthetic cleavage, so she gets an honorable mention.

Of course the color barrier wasn't the only long-standing tradition to fall last night. Songwriter Randy Newman finally broke the Susan Lucci curse by winning his first Oscar for "If I Didn't Have You," from Monsters, Inc.. It was his first win after 15 consecutive losses. Let's hear it for 1-15, woo-hoo!

But not all winners felt like winners. Especially when it came to the Razzies, the annual spoof on the Oscars held the night prior to the big show. The Razzies recognize the worst efforts in film over the past year. To no one's surprise, everyone's favorite Canadian Tom Green led the way this year. Tom nabbed five of the top, er bottom, honors, but it didn't seem to faze him. In fact, he even showed up to personally accept each $4.79 "trophy." He became the first actor to actually show up for the Razzies. Showgirls director Paul Verhoeven showed up in 1996 to accept the Worst Picture award.

So, at the end of the day, we're left with feelings as empty as those jumpo popcorn tubs we compulsively buy to watch these monstrosities. But, at least the awards season is finally over. And if the post-awards season blues start setting in, don't fret. Just think, the 2002 awards season is just a short 5 months away.