I was delighted that Helen Mirren won not one Golden Globe, but two. First, she won for her role as Queen Elizabeth 1 and then later in the evening for her role as Queen Elizabeth II. I laughed when she said Queen Elizabeth already has her orb so I'm going to keep this.
I was also delighted when America Ferrara won for her role as Ugly Betty, which I was reluctant to watch initially when it first appeared on ABC but then got hooked when there was nothing to watch one night on the telly and got hooked. It's full of good, intelligent writing, certainly enough to make you forgive the occasional cliche and forays into stereotype. Ms. Ferrara's speech was full of genuine surprise, delight and gratitude--the sort of raw emotions that make you joyful that they won--not the usual professional litany of 'thanks yous' and 'this is a thrill.' The same applies in equal measure to Jennifer Hudson, who made a class speech when she won for her role as Effie in Dreamgirls.
Not so, the acceptance 'speech' of Mr. Baron-Cohen who won for his role in Borat, a film I haven't seen yet but will. Hey, the guy's funny, witty and, yes, being earthy is part of his stichk, but he should know when to switch off the Borat alter ego, reign in the drive toward eccentricity, and accept a prize with a bit of grace. He should also know to take the measure of his audience, in this case an American audience. For five minutes, we had to listen to him skewer his uncomfortable, black-tied sidekick and talk about his having to endure the guy's testicles against his face and the guy's personal smells from between his legs, etc. You get the visual, I'm sure. Cracking one joke made the Globe audience laugh, but then it quickly became uncomfortable when he went on and on...well, like Borat...and he was eventually 'played off' and had to start his litany of 'thank yous' to the rising strains of the orchestra. I just wish he'd taken his cue from Meryl Streep--she appeared on stage earlier--about how to slip into a role and how long to play it during an acceptance speech.
The Joan Rivers and daughter team were on the telly this morning attempting to render humorously low brow opinions on the fashions and accessories worn by the women (and a few men) at last night's event. She was somewhat subdued for Joan, though still pushy because she was in a lather to get it in that she and her daughter (she's started to Botox or something now too judging by her peculiar lip profile) were wearing some kind of silver material in their dresses just like all the other hot actresses who were doing so at the awards. No matter how hard I try, I can't somehow force myself to peel my eyes off Joan's face when she's on the telly. It's just so stretched, so flawless, so astonishing.
[technorati: Ugly Betty, America Ferrara, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jennifer Hudson, Joan Rivers, Dreamgirls, Borat, Merryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Golden Globes
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