The Globes

Can you name the winners of last year’s Golden Globes?   Must be the same Oscar winners because the Globes would usually foreshadow the Oscars; but I can’t say for sure. Nobody can easily remember the winners, but everybody – the ‘live’ and TV audience – seems to enjoy the show each time.  It’s happier, looser, and the speeches are usually more enjoyable and wilder on account of the overflowing champagne served on the celebrities’ huge round tables. Ricky Gervais is the funniest and most irreverent host ever. The fashion choices are also much more adventurous than those in the more prestigious Oscars.

Remember Christine Lahti’s (of Swing Shift and TV’s Chicago Hope) memorable moment?  Lahti was nowhere to be found when her name was called.  Apparently, she stepped out of the hall to pee.  Robin Williams went onstage and pretended to be Lahti.  She finally showed up after a very long pause and was visibly flushed about the whole thing. The rest of the evening was then peppered with Lahti bathroom jokes.

The Globes also do it differently with the Best Picture category.  They split it into ‘drama’ and ‘musical/comedy’.  It’s bizarre.   A musical is not interchangeable with a comedy.  Some movies, which are considered serious enough, are categorized as comedic.  The Tourist.  Alice in Wonderland.  Juno.  In Bruges.  Pride and Prejudice.  Fargo.  Jerry Maguire.

But, just the same, the Globes recognize comedies or ‘lighter’ films which other award-giving bodies ignore.  It’s the pompous ones that are wrongly considered superior to the charming and lighthearted ones.   Lately, I’ve been seeing re-runs of the heavy-handed Babel and Crash on cable.  I don’t bother.  Give me Groundhog Day, Mean Girls or The Thomas Crown Affair anytime!  I’d rather hang loose, have fun on cable nights, much like a drunken Jack Nicholson on Globes night.