Golden Globes: I Declare Emma Thompson the Winner!

Emma Thompson: the real winner of the Golden Globes

She might not have won any hardware at the Golden Globes, but I'll call Emma Thompson the winner of Sunday night's festivities. The Saving Mr. Banks star and Best Actress nominee pretty much stole the show from hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, plus the hoard of flustered winners who were mostly booted from the stage by hasty musical cues. Thompson was the spirit of the Golden Globes at its finest: a rambunctious and boozy star-fuelled evening of open bar awards show folly. Thompson seemed genuinely happy for virtually everyone at the show, cheering and clapping whenever the camera cut to her during the ceremony. She was pure class all the way, getting on her feet for Philomena Lee (at the show to present the film of which she is a subject, Philomena), and she was easily the best presenter of the night, as she arrived onstage with a martini in one and and her heels (covered in her blood, she  jested) in the other whilst prepping the award for Best Screenplay. (Video after the jump.) Thompson then tossed the shoes, shoved her martini at Sosie Bacon (proving Miss Golden Globe to be nothing but a glorified waitress), thanked the "Voice of God" narrator (who then shut up for the evening), and gave the show the jolt it needed. Thompson made up for the absence of comedic performances acknowledged throughout the programme. 

The night's winner for Best Actress in a Comedy, Amy Adams, confirmed that American Hustle could now be the film to beat come Oscar night. Adams certainly gave a worthy performance in Hustle and it's nice to see a trophy go to an actress who genuinely deserves a break. (Adams is a lead actress who seems stuck in supporting roles.) I'll admit that I was rooting for Meryl Streep in August: Osage County (which I maintain is the performance of the year), but being in favour of one performer doesn't necessarily mean one is not supportive of the other four nominees. (The entire process of selecting a winner from a pool of nominees essentially requires one to choose one above the others, after all...) The Hollywood Foreign Press Association clearly loved Hustle and Streep made it clear that she didn't care about another award, so whether Adams or Streep moves on to the next round remains to be seen.

American Hustle scored an expected Best Picture award and was easily one of the few predicted winners to pull through. Hustle's third win, Jennifer Lawrence for Best Supporting Actress (which makes back-to-back Golden Globes for her performances in David O. Russell films after  Silver Linings Playbook), was a mild upset over 12 Years a Slave's Lupita Nyong'o. Nyong'o's loss in Slave's first category led the Globes into a nail-biter of a finish, as only one of the show's Best Drama nominees, Gravity, had won a single award before the big prize was handed out. Slave won in the end. I breathed a sigh a relief and then quickly lamented the fact that one of my few correct predictions of the night was the loss for Meryl Streep. (I did terribly with a mere 6 correct predictions out of 14 categories.) The most unpredictable turn, perhaps, was that the night's big dramatic winner might have been Dallas Buyers Club, directed by Canada's Jean-Marc Vallée, which the only dramatic film of the night to win two awards.

The highlight of the night for me, though was probably Diane Keaton's acceptance speech of the Cecil B. DeMille award for Woody Allen. Keaton looked back on her friendship with Allen, connecting both her professional and personal insight of his great work, and summed up the legacy of his roster of great female characters that have been played by many actresses who were applauding him in the room. (Allen's contribution to cinema was underscored when Oscar shoo-in Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress in a Drama award for Allen's Blue Jasmine.) Keaton the dropped a few F-bombs and closed the tribute by singing the camp song  ”Make New Friends (But Keep the Old)” in an nice, weird, Annie Hall-ish send-up to her friend.

Best Picture – Drama

★ 12 Years a Slave

Best Picture – “Comedy”/Musical

★ American Hustle

Best Actor – Drama

★Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress – Drama

★ Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Best Actor – “Comedy”/Musical

★ Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actress – “Comedy”/Musical

★ Amy Adams, American Hustle

Best Supporting Actor

★ Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

★ Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Best Director:

★Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Best Screenplay:

★Her - Spike Jonze 

Best Animated Film:

★ Frozen

Best Foreign Language Film:

★The Great Beauty - Italy

Best Song:

★ "Ordinary Love," Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Score:

★All is Lost, Alex Ebert 

What did you think of the Golden Globes?