2008 Woodie Awards
DeGeneres a worthy host for 2007 Oscars
Kelly Austin '08
Issue date: 2/28/07 Section: Entertainment
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The 79th Annual Academy Awards certainly had its share of bright spots, dull moments, unfortunate mistakes, wonderful upsets, and touching speeches. Although I typically only enjoy the first and last ten minutes of the show, this year, the pieces in the middle offered some unexpected charm.
Ellen DeGeneres started off the night with a safe yet witty monologue that poked fun at the audience and nominees. The jokes were funny and her sarcasm was entertaining. Her best comment of the night was when she said, "Jennifer Hudson was on "American Idol"; America didn't vote for her and yet she's here with an Oscar nomination. And then Al Gore is here. America did vote for him, and then..." Ellen kept the audience on their toes throughout the night, offering Martin Scorsese a screenplay for her film "Good Mommas", taking a picture with Clint Eastwood for MySpace, and stumbling upon someone's rolling papers while vacuuming.
The best musical performance of the night didn't come from Celine Dion, Beyonce, or Jennifer Hudson, but rather from a fine group of middle-aged, hilarious comedians. Will Ferrell and Jack Black, later joined by John C. Reilly, sang a simply amazing "ballad of the un-nominated" to the audience. While boasting that he could beat up Ryan Gosling and Peter O'Toole and take their Oscars, Will Ferrell shied away from Mark Wahlberg, who he claimed was "pretty bad-ass." The song ended with high hopes of going home with the "totally hot" Helen Mirren. Perfect.
If the Oscars had gone on for four hours with just Ellen, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and some other noteworthy moments-the playful banter between Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Meryl Streep, and Steve Carell's comment about how sound editing is very much like sex-it would have been a perfect night, but alas, this wasn't the case. As usual, there were the typical boring speeches infused throughout the evening, popping up just about every couple of minutes. The Sound Effects Choir was also just plain scary. Watching the shower scene from "Psycho" play on a projector behind a choir of men and women creating the effects themselves for the scene was just weird. One of the biggest mistakes of the night was when Ellen insinuated that Penelope Cruz was from Mexico. Oops. At least she didn't mispronounce Stephen Frears name and say "Fears", as George Lucas did.
Ellen DeGeneres started off the night with a safe yet witty monologue that poked fun at the audience and nominees. The jokes were funny and her sarcasm was entertaining. Her best comment of the night was when she said, "Jennifer Hudson was on "American Idol"; America didn't vote for her and yet she's here with an Oscar nomination. And then Al Gore is here. America did vote for him, and then..." Ellen kept the audience on their toes throughout the night, offering Martin Scorsese a screenplay for her film "Good Mommas", taking a picture with Clint Eastwood for MySpace, and stumbling upon someone's rolling papers while vacuuming.
The best musical performance of the night didn't come from Celine Dion, Beyonce, or Jennifer Hudson, but rather from a fine group of middle-aged, hilarious comedians. Will Ferrell and Jack Black, later joined by John C. Reilly, sang a simply amazing "ballad of the un-nominated" to the audience. While boasting that he could beat up Ryan Gosling and Peter O'Toole and take their Oscars, Will Ferrell shied away from Mark Wahlberg, who he claimed was "pretty bad-ass." The song ended with high hopes of going home with the "totally hot" Helen Mirren. Perfect.
If the Oscars had gone on for four hours with just Ellen, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and some other noteworthy moments-the playful banter between Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Meryl Streep, and Steve Carell's comment about how sound editing is very much like sex-it would have been a perfect night, but alas, this wasn't the case. As usual, there were the typical boring speeches infused throughout the evening, popping up just about every couple of minutes. The Sound Effects Choir was also just plain scary. Watching the shower scene from "Psycho" play on a projector behind a choir of men and women creating the effects themselves for the scene was just weird. One of the biggest mistakes of the night was when Ellen insinuated that Penelope Cruz was from Mexico. Oops. At least she didn't mispronounce Stephen Frears name and say "Fears", as George Lucas did.
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