Monday, January 20, 2003
The Golden Globe recap - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER – Joan Rivers was at it again bitching and catcalling on the red carpet outside Merv Griffin's Beverly Hilton Hotel, the site of The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards. The awards are practically meaningless as they have longed ceased to be the exact precursor to the Academy Awards later this Spring. Joan Rivers is going to have a busy next few months. The Oscars are in March, and between now and then (don't forget last week's People's Choice Awards) she'll be straddling more red carpets, talking and looking at the clothes and jewels of many of Hollywood's biggest.
The first award of the evening went to Meryl Streep, the distinguished actress who's been nominated, as she said, for something like "789 awards." She hasn't won in a while and when she did, she was buoyed up on stage by a well-deserved standing ovation. Winning for her supporting turn in Adaptation, she was later joined by her co-star Chris Cooper who took the supporting actor Globe. Both will probably get Oscar nods for their work in the Spike Jonze films.
Edie Falco, suffering from laryngitis, came up to claim the best actress in a television drama. I'd hate to be the broad who laughed at her during her speech. The look of Mrs. Tony Soprano was chilling and if looks could kill...
Michael Chiklis won the Golden Globe for his lead in the FX series The Shield. He won the Emmy last fall, and the series trumped The Sopranos, The West Wing, Six Feet Under and 24 for best drama series. Jennifer Aniston, limped up on stage to collect the award for her acting on Friends and neglected to thank hubby Brad Pitt. Her colleague Matt LeBlanc didn't win the actor honour as it went to Tony Shalhoub for Monk, the critical hit, which could have been submitted in the drama category. Curb Your Enthusiasm, won the best comedy series award, and deservedly so. It's a funny, funny series produced and starring Larry David, the co-creator of a little series called Seinfeld. David gave a very funny dead-pan speech that brought the house down. I can't wait until the series debuts in Canada on Showcase. February 11th is the launch date, I think.
In the Revenge-Is-Best-When-Eaten-Cold file, Kim Cattrall at the tail end of her speech says something about men coming and going, yet women stay. A scornfully snide remark directed at her former husband, whom she just recently divorced. One must also note that she began her speech with a prescient line: "I had to sleep with a lot of men to get this award." True, her Golden Globe was won for playing the ultimate slut on television, Samantha on Sex and The City. Did you know she used to date Pierre Elliott Trudeau?
U2, who won for writing the song "The Hands That Built America," had the distinction of their Bono speaking on their behalf. He came out earlier to introduce a clip from the film, reading from a scrap piece of paper, waxing poetic and lauding the Scorsese film, The Gangs of New York. However, when claiming the Golden Globe for the song, he did say the F-word. It's the second time I can remember Bono using the F-word without it being bleeped out on American network television. (The first, was on the Grammy telecast in 1994, which was the first time that particular four-letter word was used in prime time television in the United States.)
The Gene Hackman tribute was well done. Sir Michael Caine and Robin Williams did a fine job. Harrison Ford, last year's recipient, seems to pale in comparison to the more deserving Hackman. (By the way, Harrison, it's Adaptation, not Adaption. He mispronounced the word when he wandered out to present the best director award.) His panorama of the films of his youth, brought the Golden Globes a lot of the pathos that we seem to forget every year, especially with everyone mired in the world of Oscar politics.
Kudos to Martin Scorsese, who took a standing ovation and his first Golden Globe for helming The Gangs of New York.
Another director who took a Golden Globe last night was the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. His mangled English was rather humourous, even though it was just another left-wing rant. Jack Nicholson was, as ever, most funny in his speech as he claimed the actor award for About Schmidt.
One more thing. I really found the Chrysler Pacifica commercials with Celine Dion terribly annoying. Someone please realise you won't sell more than one vehicle with her as the shill person. Maclean's magazine said it best. Now that she's got a regular gig in Las Vegas, she's been banished to the Canadian Senate of the show business world.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .