Here is the plain text result:
The bar wasn’t set very high for the Golden Globes on Sunday night. After last year’s host, Jo Koy, memorably bombed, the emcee this year, Nikki Glaser, could hardly do worse. But she wasn’t content to merely do better. After workshopping her opening monologue in dozens of club appearances over the holidays, she killed when it counted, cracking up the stars on hand at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., and winning over viewers on social media.
When Glaser began putting together her Golden Globes monologue in early December, she told her writing staff, “Don’t be scared to be weird.” You saw evidence of this in her stellar monologue on Sunday, which included the kind of hard punchlines she is known for, including a good insult of Paramount+ and a joke about the effect of Sean Combs’s arrest on the after-party. But there was also an impression of Adam Sandler pronouncing Timothée Chalamet’s name that was just pure silliness — Sandler even joined in. Glaser doesn’t usually do impressions, but she committed and it went over really well, adding to the celebratory, fun tone to kick the night off.
Glaser’s night started on the red carpet with a billowing strapless gold ball gown. For her first onstage appearance, she changed into a sequined silver sleeveless gown. By 8:30, she was on her third dress of the night. An hour into the ceremony, she was on Dress No. 5 (a sequined pink sleeveless stunner). By the end of the night, she had donned what seemed like 47 more.
Given that Hollywood awards shows celebrate the art of playing a role, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a big surprise that the dominant trend of the 2025 Globes red carpet was … retro role-playing. Ariana Grande did her best Audrey Hepburn impression in 1966 Givenchy couture; Selena Gomez channeled Jackie Kennedy in ice-blue Prada and a stylized bob; and Nicole Kidman and Margaret Qualley sported enormous Catherine Deneuve bouffants — all in a sea of mostly traditional tuxedos.
Many Golden Globe nominees have been to the Beverly Hilton before. And although the Globes are now a more serious operation than they once were, actors still treat wins with varying levels of reverence. That made Tadanobu Asano’s acceptance speech for “Shogun” stand out. It was his first win, on his first nomination, and it showed. “Maybe you don’t know me,” he began. “I’m an actor from Japan. My name is Tadanobu Asano. Wow!” His peers stood and cheered him on. And as he grinned and clutched his award, he added: “This is a very big present for me!” He sure seemed like he meant it.
The award for “cinematic and box office achievement” debuted in 2024, and this year it was, unsurprisingly, given to “Wicked.” The official criteria is that it is the “most acclaimed, highest-earning and/or most viewed” feature, which basically describes every nominated film. But it also must have made $150 million worldwide, with at least $100 million domestically, which is pretty much the dictionary definition of a blockbuster. (“Wicked” finished 2024 with well over $680 million worldwide.)
Amid an onslaught of commercials for weight loss injections and various pharmaceutical creams, pills, drops and supplements, Nikki Glaser took some of the usual potshots at Hollywood’s penchant for plastic surgery. “I love where you put your cheekbones!” she riffed to the audience in her opening monologue.
But unlike other hosts, she acknowledged that she had been getting her tweaks on, too. Claiming, with air quotes, that she had started healthy habits like “drinking more water,” she said: “I love how meditating removes your eyelids” — aka the common tuck known as an upper bleph. “I learned nothing from ‘The Substance,’” she added.
That that movie, a feminist body horror tale, won Demi Moore her first Globe for playing an aging star who finds a grotesque way to youthify herself, only added to the evening’s hall of mirrors.
Hey, did you know that Mindy Kaling was named after the TV show “Mork & Mindy?” Or that Zoe Saldaña’s go-to karaoke song is “Piece of My Heart”? The Golden Globes went all “Pop-Up Video” during the telecast, sharing these “facts” about winners and presenters via onscreen text. At first, the addition seemed semi-clever, but it all became too much when the announcer shared more facts on top of the ones we had to read. Even if you’re celebrity-obsessed, this turned out to be T.M.I.
I found the trivia at the Golden Globes to be refreshingly weird. Awards season fun-facts can feel so canned: who spent time with who to prepare for a role, when was the last big win for a nominee. T.M.I. or not, my night was greatly improved by learning that Demi Moore is an avid doll collector with a separate residence to house her more than 2,000 vintage dolls.
The Globes are a notoriously boozy affair, but after “Hacks” won for best television comedy, Paul W. Downs, a co-creator of the series, warned against giving his star a celebratory drink. The show is currently in production on its fourth season, and a 6 a.m. call time awaited the cast and crew the next morning.
Elton John reacted like a proud parent when he announced that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross had won best original score for “Challengers,” yelping with utter, seemingly genuine delight. He was a good stand-in for those of us in the audience who were thrilled to see a win for that thumping, propulsive music. When Reznor and Ross took the stage, John could be seen grinning eagerly behind them, as if he had just won himself.
For an ostensibly glamorous ceremony, the show itself looked terrible onscreen. Presenters were filmed awfully close up, giving everything a harsh and casual vibe. The swirling camera work during some of the acceptance speeches felt like the red carpet slo-mo booth had broken out of its enclosure. And presenters did not face the entire theater, but rather turned directly to a camera off to one side. Seth Rogen called it out, saying “It’s inelegant. It’s strange. This whole half of the room can see my bald spot. I would have filled that in. I said no, but I regret that now.”
Source link
