Hollywood’s biggest party took place March 10th and attracted 19.5 million viewers despite starting an hour earlier than usual. These are the highest ratings the Oscars have seen since 2020. What made this year’s broadcast more appealing than it has been for the last four years and how did the production go?
To start off this year’s Oscars review, we first need to talk about Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted for his fourth time this year. Jimmy Kimmel is a safe choice to have host, which is probably why the Academy keeps falling back on him. While I don’t personally like Jimmy Kimmel’s comedy, I think that he did an okay job like he usually does. There were a few times, however, that made me wish they went with someone else. These times included jokes about how the films this year were too long (unoriginal), jokes that reduced the incredible Poor Things down to its sex scenes (boring), and one joke about Robert Downey Jr’s past drug use (inappropriate). Though I didn’t like these jokes, I appreciate how Kimmel usually makes himself scarce during the production and generally makes the night all about the movies.
A classic part of the Oscar’s is of course, the bits. This year had several amazing bits. One of my favorites was when John Cena came out on stage with absolutely nothing on, besides the winner announcement envelope to cover himself while he presented Best Costumes and raved about how important costumes are. Another solid bit was when Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling hopped on the “Barbenheimer” trend and fought about whose movie was the true star of the summer. My favorite bit of the night, however, came when the program introduced John Mulaney to present an award. Mulaney had a hilarious bit about Field of Dreams that completely reawakened the room. This bit influenced a slew of viral posts on X asking for the Academy to invite Mulaney to host. His liveliness and warm reception from the celebrities and viewers proves that he would make an amazing host for the show, should the Academy give Kimmel a break.
Another crucial part of the Oscars are the live performances. All of the performances were great, but no one lit up the room quite like Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken”. This performance, which was a tribute to Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, was an absolute highlight of the show. Seeing Gosling fully embrace the Kenergy and get the whole room laughing, from Margot Robbie to Martin Scorsese was absolutely incredible to watch. It was by far the most fun moment of the night! The Oscars were lucky to have the raw talent and charisma of Ryan Gosling in their arsenal this year.
My favorite thing about this year’s program was bringing back five past winners from each acting category to introduce all five of this year’s nominees. I loved seeing each actor/actress get their own individual praise from a past winner. One of my favorite pairings of the night was Lupita Nyong’o introducing Da’vine Joy Randolph. Nyong’o highlighted Randolph saying, “Your performance is…also in tribute to your grandmother whose glasses you wore in the film…” which was amazingly emotional. Another favorite actor pairing of the night for me was Nic Cage introducing Paul Giamatti. Nic praised Paul by saying, “This past year, Paul Giamatti was so committed that for the character to have a lazy eye, he wore a soft contact lens during the entire shoot, which made him blind in that eye while filming,” Cage hilariously added, “Would have I done that? Hell yes. But the point is, you did do it, Paul!”
The night went smoothly with some amazing jokes and bits, but let’s get into why we all tune in each year- the wins! I think that this was a great year of wins for some truly fantastic films. I may or may not be biased because I got 21/23 correct on my predictions, but I digress. There were definitely a few givens including Best Picture Oppenheimer, Supporting Actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Supporting Actor Robert Downey Jr, but there were also a few surprises that kept the show interesting. The win that surprised me the most were Emma Stone winning best actress. It was a tight race between her and Lily Gladstone but I’m very happy that it was between these two ladies because I would be happy either way. Stone gave an incredibly charming speech and proved why she is one of the best in Hollywood.
One of my favorite wins of the night that I think was the most deserving was Best Sound for The Zone of Interest. I have never experienced a film that utilized sound quite like this one. A truly inspired win, that I had hoped for, but wasn’t necessarily expecting. Some more of my favorite wins went to my favorite film of the year, Poor Things, including Best Costumes and Best Production Design. Poor Things completely deserved these wins for its beautifully weird, wacky, wonderful world that it crafted. My other favorite wins were in both screenplay categories. I’m very happy that Anatomy of a Fall and American Fiction both went home with something because they were both amazing!
Another important aspect that makes or breaks the Oscars each year are the speeches. The Oscar for Mickey’s Favorite Speech goes to Chord Jefferson, who accepted the statue for Best Original Screenplay. Jefferson used his speech to advocate for small budget films urging studios to, “…recognize that there are so many people out there who want the opportunity that I was given,” Jefferson said. “I understand that this is a risk-averse industry, but $200 million movies are also a risk. But you take the risk anyway,” he added. “Instead of making one $200 million movie, make 20 $10 million movies or 50 $4 million movies.” I really appreciated Jefferson’s speech, and completely agree with his message. It’s great to see younger people win Oscars and give inspiring speeches. I’m very excited to see what he does next!
To conclude: this year’s Oscars were a complete success! Great wins, jokes, emotional speeches, performances, and presenters made the program incredibly entertaining. 2023 was an incredible year for film and the list of the Best Picture Nominees was one of the best in years, with a wide range of genres, themes, and performances. I had a blast watching this year’s Oscars and hope to see this energy again next year, as the last few years were a bit lackluster. This year’s Oscars was certainly one for the books!