The Golden Globe Awards have always produced a few left-field winners. This makes sense considering the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a small group of foreign journalists, decides the winners and organizes the evening for A-list stars. But this year especially, many of the winners for both the film and television categories were absolutely shocking.
The show itself was one of the most boring Golden Globes on record. Ricky Gervais, the evening’s host, looked like he would have rather been anywhere else. None of his jokes landed, and he appeared to have his hands tied by the network regarding acceptable topics for his monologue. Almost nothing about this ceremony was memorable or even funny.
As far as the awards themselves, some of the winners were as out of place as Gervais. The Golden Globes generally result in wins for bigger celebrity names rather than better performances, and this year was no different.
In the film categories, “The Revenant” walked away as the big winner of the night. While lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio is certainly deserving of all the love he’s received for his performance, the film was certainly not worthy of the award for Best Picture. Almost any other candidate in the category would have been a more suitable winner than “The Revenant” — one of A&E’s favorites of the year, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” was far more imaginative and entertaining. Also a surprise, Kate Winslet won in the supporting actress category for the role of Joanna Hoffman in “Steve Jobs.” Winslet’s performance wasn’t of poor quality, but her accent was all over the place, and newcomer Alicia Vikander presented a far greater presence in “Ex Machina.”
Stallone was a rightful victor, winning his first Globe for his return to the role of Rocky Balboa in “Creed.” Stallone absolutely deserved this award, and received a standing applause from the entire audience. In his speech, he thanked everyone who was ever involved with the “Rocky” franchise, except “Creed” director and writer Ryan Coogler, who begged Stallone to return to his iconic role for the film. This mistake could absolutely hurt Stallone’s chances for Oscar gold in February.
The television winners made even less sense than some of the film winners. “Mozart in the Jungle” won Best Musical or Comedy. The second season of this Amazon Prime show generated almost zero buzz, and it was a surprise the show was even nominated. Lady Gaga also won her first Globe for her role in “American Horror Story: Hotel.” Like Winslet, Gaga’s win seems to represent notice for the most prominent name in the category rather than for the actress’s success in her role. “Fargo” was completely shut out in the the biggest crime of the night, losing in the Best Limited Series category to another dime-a-dozen PBS show, “Wolf Hall.”
There were some bright moments, however. “Mr. Robot” beat out “Game of Thrones” for Best Drama, which was extremely well deserved. Additionally, Taraji P. Henson finally won a major award for her role as Cookie Lyon in the hit show “Empire.”
Overall, the awards show was a misfire in many blaring aspects. The hosting was subpar, the jokes fell flat, and much of the deserving talent left the show empty-handed. Of course, the Academy Awards are right around the corner with thousands of voting members across all fields in the industry, so expect less erratic Oscar winners. Hopefully, February’s event and host Chris Rock will be less of a trainwreck than this year’s Golden Globes.
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