You might have felt it creeping up from the dark corners… Or noticed "important" snoozy films like Amelia (my review is coming, I swear!) beginning to seep into the cineplexes… Yep, awards season is coming.
I honestly don't mind awards shows as much as some, as long as you understand they have nothing to do with the quality of films. But more on that rant as we get deeper into the fray this winter.
No, I can totally tolerate awards shows if they have just enough self-deprecating humor in them. Or barring that, lots of drunk celebrities. Which is why I love the Golden Globes: The show put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press has zero to do with awarding quality films and everything to do with celebrities getting tanked. (You can read my live-blogging of last winter's Globes here.)
And this year promises to be even more fun, as the show's producers have tapped the brilliant Ricky Gervais to host the shenanigans–the first time in 15 years the Globes have even had an emcee . Plus, the selection of Gervais follows a promising trend of late in the improvement of awards-show hosts, such as Hugh Jackman nailing the Oscars last winter and Neil Patrick Harris lifting the Emmys out of its usual host-funk this fall.
As for Gervais, the comedic mind behind the original UK Office and Extras has not had a great run of it on the big screen. Both Ghostown and The Invention of Lying have their strengths and Gervais is good in them, but he's yet to be involved in a film that comes close to matching the stunning satirical genius of his UK TV work.
So why was he selected to host the Globes? Well, his auditions have been his relentlessly hilarious bits at the podium of various awards shows over the years. Like Tina Fey, you know when Ricky steps up to either hand out or accept an award, it's going to be dead funny, with spot-on skewering of the awards system and stars by way of pumping up his own faux-inflated ego.
Of course, I always enjoyed Jon Stewart doing a similar style of self-deprecating mockery at the Oscars, but his shtick didn't always go over well with viewers or some of the stars whose importance he was poking. But I doubt Gervias will face a similar problem–having a British accent in America always allows you to get away with a bit more cheekiness. And again, it's the Globes. They're a joke in terms of integrity anyway, and everyone is drunk.
The Golden Globes air January 17. In the meantime hop on over the jump to enjoy clips of Gervais's previous award-show appearances!
Posted on December 15, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Thank goodness Ricky Gervais is hosting the Academy Awards aka Oscars. Thanks Redblog for letting me know about this.