The Oscars are over, and of course, since all the big winners were so utterly predictable this year, everyone’s talking about Hathaway and Franco as host…
…The water cooler talk is not kind.
In what could go down as one of the worst Oscar telecasts in history, a bad and risky idea — letting two actors host — proved out in spectacularly unwatchable fashion on the biggest of all nights for the film world.
As for your hosts, Hathaway worked her derriere off and Franco came off like that lacrosse boy you wish your daughter didn’t hang out with so much, sort of heavy-lidded and smirky and … well, let’s give him credit for being James Franco, the 23-hour-a-day workaholic/grad student/filmmaker/soap-opera/not-Best Actor wunderkind of his generation.
At least Hathaway was in there pitching throughout — unlike her co-host, who sometimes seemed to be preparing for a remake of Dazed and Confused. Never was that more clear than in one of their big set pieces, with Hathaway pushing through a bad version of On My Own only to introduce an embarrassed-looking Franco dressed as Marilyn Monroe. If you’re that hard up for a joke, don’t make one.
And perhaps my favorite of the critiques…
Was James Franco stoned when he hosted the Oscars?
Yes.How do you know?
Come on, did you see him?So you don’t have any proof?
Dude.But why would he get high before hosting a nationally-televised, four-hour awards ceremony?
Probably for some kind of, like, art project? Or, he thought it would be funny! Those two things seem to be the main motivations in James Franco’s life.
I actually thought Hathaway might have been alright alongside someone giving her ANYTHING at all to work with, though she clearly was giddy and excited in a childish, unprofessional way over just being there (which was adorable at first, annoying by hour 3).
But Franco? Wow. He was just terrible. When Billy Crystal made a surprise appearance, there was an audible sigh of relief in living rooms across the country at finally getting a real host.
The most amusing irony, is that Franco and Hathaway were brought in to make the show more young, funny and hip, but the most youthful, humorous and cool moment of the night came from 94 year old Kirk Douglas.
