If Oscars wanted to throw a feel-good tribute to film, the producers forgot to consult Will Smith.
Until the last hour, the evening looked an old-fashioned celebration, one that relied heavily on big stars, emotional acceptance speeches and tributes to beloved classics.
The evening opened with the pre-taped nominated song "Be Alive" by Beyonce and her fierce dancers dressed in the color of tennis balls, commanding the Compton courts where tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams honed their skills. It's not a memorable song, but kicking off with one of music's most dynamic stars was a smart way of signaling to the audience that glamour was back. Younger viewers had their goosebump moment when Billie Eilish performed later in the evening.
Hosts Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes returned to the tradition of roasting their peers, aiming zingers at Leonardo DiCaprio, J.K. Simmons and Lady Gaga. There was some political humor, aimed primarily at conservatives. But for the most, the comics stuck to sending up their own.
Schumer gave "Being the Ricardos" director Aaron Sorkin a hard (and hilarious) time for making a movie about Lucille Ball that didn't include a single laugh.
"That's like making a movie about Michael Jordan and just showing the bus trips between games," she said.
Not all the jokes worked. In the one where Hall used COVID testing as an excuse to ogle Hollywood hunks, it seemed like a delayed response to Seth MacFarlane's 2013 musical tribute to women's breasts, a number that is best forgotten.
"I'm going to swab the back of your throats with my tongue," Hall said as Bradley Cooper and others shuffled their feet.
But at least the three hosts were trying. The show could have relied more on the hosts — and stand-ups in general. Watching presenters like Olympian Shaun White stumble through teleprompter lines was as tedious as sitting through the credits for "Dune."
It looked like the organizers had finally gotten it right when Chris Rock strolled out, working the audience like he has at hundreds of events before. But a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith didn't sit well with her husband Will. He went up onstage to smack the comic and then yelled and swore at him after returning to his seat.
That unscripted moment hung over the rest of the broadcast, which organizers had worked hard on.
Stars of "White Men Can't Jump," "The Godfather" and "Pulp Fiction" reunited, as did the leads in "Juno." They made time to give a shout-out to Diablo Cody, who wrote the Oscar-winning script while living in Minnesota.
The Academy Awards made time for trips down memory lane by handing out eight of the awards an hour early, a decision that rattled some of the industry's biggest names. But the protests seemed like much ado about nothing once you saw how seamlessly the pre-taped acceptance speeches were cut in throughout the live show.
Ukrainian native Mila Kunis was on hand to introduce Reba McEntire, but the "Bad Moms" star didn't get very personal during her time on stage. Instead, viewers were asked to acknowledge the war-torn country with a moment of silence.
The only thing the viewers missed was the awkward banter between presenters and watching winners try to make their way from nose-bleed seats to the stage before the applause died down.
That being said, producers probably could have made time to hand out those awards as usual by just asking presenters like Kevin Costner not to drone on about the art of directing. As it turned out, the show ended up running over the three-hour limit as it normally does.
The "In Memoriam" segment, usually a guaranteed tearjerker, was treated like a dance party.
The show was more intimate than usual. The biggest stars were seated at cocktail tables. You kept wondering when a server would be stopping by to take drink orders.
The minimalist set led veteran show director Glenn Weiss to opt for close-ups of winners, a wise choice that made some speeches extra moving.
But those moments are destined to be overshadowed by Smith's breakdown. Debate all you want about whether his anger was justified. It makes it less likely that you'll skip watching in the future. And isn't that ultimately what the Academy wants most?
