This year's Golden Globe Awards seemed even more casual and lackluster than in years past. I was pleased by some of the winners and disappointed by others, but as I suggested previously, the Hollywood Foreign Press comes off as being so star-struck and questionably motivated that it's hard to get too excited or upset no matter what films or actors they choose to award. They seem to be better when it comes to television than movies, although I'm only going to talk about their film choices.

It was nice to see Charlize Theron receive her first high-profile award for her performance in MONSTER, so if she doesn't win the Oscar at least she got something. There wasn't a more sincere winner all night long than Theron, who seemed genuinely touched during her speech. You also had to appreciate the way she singled out writer-director Patty Jenkins and thanked her for giving her the opportunity.

On the other side of the Best Actress category, I was disappointed to see Diane Keaton win the award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. I thought her performance in SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE was all right, but she gave one of the most horrible acceptance speeches I've ever heard in my life. Reading from a piece of paper in her hand, she apparently forgot to realize that sometimes the things you write down don't come off quite as well when read aloud.

There were no surprises in both of the leading actor categories, with the Globes going to Sean Penn for MYSTIC RIVER and Bill Murray for LOST IN TRANSLATION. Murray had two of the great quotes of the night; first, he mockingly acknowledged his fellow actors in the dramatic categories, as if comedians were the ones who always get the credit. He then made a crack about so many different people trying to take credit for his award that he doesn't know who to thank. Penn was even more aloof, opting to not show up at all (a decision I have to respect in a lot of ways, especially seeing as this year will be the first time he's attended The Academy Awards despite being nominated three times). One of my favorite moments was when Clint Eastwood accepted the award on Penn's behalf, noting that Penn is one of those actors who is always so good that he never gets the credit he deserves and we take him for granted.

There were a number of categories in which the winners were utterly predictable (as much as I hoped for someone or something else to win). THE RETURN OF THE KING and Peter Jackson for Best Dramatic Motion Picture and Best Director, respectively, and even more boring was Renee Zellweger winning for Best Supporting Actress. I wanted LOST IN TRANSLATION to win for Best Comedy or Musical and it did, surprising absolutely no one.

Tim Robbins for Supporting Actor was also a predictable win for MYSTIC RIVER, although I guess it could have gone to Ken Watanabe just as easily (either one would be a good choice as far as I'm concerned). Anyway, I was glad to see Robbins finally win an award because he's certainly paid his dues and his performance was one of the most underrated all year.

I could discuss the other categories, Danny DeVito's somewhat unsettling intro speech for his pal Michael Douglas, and maybe even go on a rant about how lame the Golden Globes are for bothering to include both drama and comedy categories without even separating original and adapted screenplays, but frankly I don't have the energy or the motivation.

Posted January 30, 2004 | link