The Worst of Oscar

Last night's Oscar telecast was pretty boring and disappointing for me. I mean, I loved Jon Stewart as a host and I loved all the montages in the show. The bit about how queer cowboy movies are was brilliant! It was also a thrill to see the great Robert Altman get an award. That was long overdue. However, what I hated about the Oscars last night was how predictable it was.
It is always wonderful to see an unexpected, welcomed surprise here and there. I still remember when Marisa Tomei shocked everyone by winning Best Supporting Actress for 1992's MY COUSIN VINNY, or just a few years ago when Adrien Brody won the Best Actor prize for THE PIANIST. I was expecting to see Clooney, Weisz, Hoffman, and Witherspoon go up to the podium to receive the awards given to them in their respective categories. And we did. I was expecting to see Ang Lee get the Best Director prize he so much deserved for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. And we did. The one shocking, outrageous and totally disappointing surprise that came at the very end of the show in the category for Best Picture was the most unexpected!
CRASH besting out BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has to be the most stupid upset at the Oscars in recent history. All of the films nominated for that award were more deserving than CRASH. I did not hate CRASH when it first came out but I do find it to be a horribly overrated picture. The reason why CRASH has been so popular with the motion picture academy is because it makes them feel as if their community is being progressive for touching on the subject of racism, class and culture. What the academy failed to see is how extremely formulaic and predictable CRASH is. In the end all the "bad white people" in the film are redeemed. But one of the black hoodlums dies. A Persian man nearly kills a Latino man out of revenge. And a Korean woman is outted as being a slave trader.
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, on the other hand, was an epic film! A sweeping love story about star-crossed lovers, beautifully written and directed. It would've been a groundbraking feat to see the film win the Oscar as it dealt with a love between two men. But never mind the gay cowboy theme. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was the better movie of the two. And the best movie nominated for the top prize. I hate the idea of Hollywood patting itself on the back for picking CRASH as the winner because it deals with racism. Hollywood did not break any ground last night! They went for the safest, tamest choice. All of the other nominees: CAPOTE, GOOD NIGHT GOOD LUCK, MUNICH, and BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN would've been far better choices.
CRASH winning last night was not the kind of upset or surprise I was looking for from the Oscars. Too bad!