Golden Globes 2015: 15 Best and Worsts Moments
Best Tina and Amy Jokes
The pair's sharpest skewerings often had to do with Hollywood's double standards for men and women. Fey noted the praise Steve Carell has earned for the two hours of make-up he endured every day to transform himself into John du Pont in "Foxcatcher," then joked that it took her three hours on Sunday just to make herself presentable for the Globes gig. Poehler praised "Boyhood" for casting Patricia Arquette, then joked that the 12-years-in-the-making film proved that there are still roles for women over 40 as long as the actresses are hired when they're under 40. Most pointedly, Fey targeted the HFPA's lifetime achievement award for George Clooney, saying of his new bride, "Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person U.N. commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award."
Worst Tina and Amy Jokes
Discussing the ordeals of the "Into the Woods" characters, Poehler said, "Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby." The date-rape joke drew audible groans from the audience; apparently, the allegations against the no-longer-beloved comedy legend are just too squirm-inducing to be funny. Yet Poehler and Fey kept riffing on the topic, mocking Cosby's often over-emphatic pronunciation of the letter P as each co-host tried to imitate how the comic might say, "I ppput the pppills in the pppeoppple." Not that Cosby should be off-limits as a subject for comedy -- indeed, the current scandal started because Hannibal Buress did a stand-up routine about the long history of allegations against Cosby -- but ick.
Best Newbie: Gina Rodriguez
Every Globe ceremony needs an ingenue who's recognized for her sudden rise to fame, and this year, it was the adorable "Jane the Virgin" star. The tearful Latina actress thanked her father for urging her to dream big and thanked the HFPA for a victory for "a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes." She's talking about viewers of the CW network, right?
Worst Fashion Trend: The Deep V
Why did so many of this year's actresses seem to be trying to squeeze into Amy Adams' costume from last year's "American Hustle"? Seemingly everyone was trying to pull off the navel-deep cleavage look, even actresses without much to work with, like Claire Danes, Gwyneth Paltrow, and (OMG!) Kate Hudson. Jennifer Lopez pulled it off, but then, she's been dressing like that for nearly two decades. Bonus demerits, though, for inspiring Jeremy Renner's rude comment about J. Lo putting her own globes on display.
Best Running Gag
Fey and Poehler kept bringing out comic Margaret Cho as the supposed newest member of the HFPA, a humorless, laconic, but apparently starstruck North Korean general. Cho posed for a photo with Meryl Streep (and got Michael Keaton to take the picture), criticized the show for being insufficiently entertaining and grandiose, and wondered why "Orange Is the New Black" wasn't in the TV drama category. The routine was a nice reminder, for fans of "30 Rock," that Fey and Cho have been making fun of North Korea's dictatorship for years; on her sitcom, Fey cast Cho as both Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un back in 2011 and 2012. Where were the Guardians of Peace then?
Best Pithy Speech: Billy Bob Thornton
"These days, you get in trouble no matter what you say, observed Thornton, who had just won the prize for Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series for his villainous "Fargo" performance. "So I'm just going to say, 'Thank you.'"
Worst Inappropriate Comment in an Acceptance Speech
Would the kind of ogling Renner did sound better coming from a woman, especially a woman with an English accent? Well, let's see: Here's Best Actress in a TV Drama winner Ruth Wilson praising the attributes of Dominic West, her co-star in "The Affair," in her acceptance speech: "Dom, your arse is a thing of great beauty. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Hmm... Nope, doesn't sound any better.
Best Standing Ovation: Theo Kingma
Actually, it was the only standing ovation. Still, that sort of rapturous response doesn't usually greet the obligatory speech by the HFPA president. But when Kingma pledged that his group of international journalists would stand up for free speech throughout the world, from North Korea to Paris, he brought the stars to their feet.
Best Identity-Politics Shout-Out
"This moment is bigger than me," said both Gina Rodriguez and Jeffrey Tambor. Throughout the night, awards were cited as victories for Latinos (Rodrirguez), transgender folks ("Transparent" star Tambor and series creator Jill Soloway), rape victims (Joanne Froggatt of "Downton Abbey"), people with AIDS (Matt Bomer of "The Normal Heart"), and women in general (Amy Adams of "Big Eyes"). But rapper Common, who shared with R&B crooner John Legend the award for Best Song for "Glory," the tune they co-composed for "Selma," gave a stirring speech in which he said that working on the civil rights drama made him feel solidarity with everyone, from the women who tried in vain to register for the vote in 1965 to the well-meaning white people who joined the march to the two policemen slain in Brooklyn last month. It was a daring gesture of empathy; after all, critics and viewers have noted the the link between the racially motivated police brutality of half a century ago depicted in "Selma" and the current nationwide protests stemming from the police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and others, but Common's ability to identify seemed to transcend narrow tribal limits to embrace all those striving for justice. Or, as he put it, "'Selma' has awakened my humanity."
Worst Reunion: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin
Called upon to announce the Best Actor in a TV Comedy winner, the duo (who comprised two of the three stars of 1980's "Nine to Five") tried to make a reverse-sexism joke about how these men disprove the old canard that men can't be funny, but the joke came out mangled and fell flat. Plus, Fonda misnamed Don Cheadle's show as "House of Cards" instead of "House of Lies." The act desperately needed a dose of Dolly Parton (the missing "Nine to Five"-er).
Best Insightful Observation: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Amid all the shout-outs to powerful women, Gyllenhaal pointed out in her acceptance speech (for her lead role in "The Honorable Woman") that the performances she was seeing this year depicted not just powerful women, but flawed and average women, too. "What I think is new," she said, "is the wealth of roles for actual women in television and film."
Worst Presenters: Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader
There were a number of awkwardly-matched duos -- Benedict Cumberbatch and Jennifer Aniston, Salma Hayek and Kevin Hart, Julianna Margulies and Don Cheadle, Renner and J. Lo, and Ricky Gervais and his ego. But the worst were Fey and Poehler's old "Saturday Night Live" pals. Called to honor screenwriters, the two did an interminable routine where they deliberately misremembered scenes from such classic movies as "Jaws," "The Godfather," and "The Terminator." Indeed, they seemed to be mangling the made-up scenes as they went along. The bit did its purpose, showing how smart the screenwriters were for not actually including any of this material, but like too many "SNL" sketches, it didn't quit until long after the dead horse had been beaten into the ground.
Best Surprise: Prince
Eschewing his usual purple, the singer showed up to the Globes dressed in a more appropriate gold. (Nice accessory: a walking stick.) Considering that he's not exactly a regular presence at awards shows (or anywhere else), it was a pleasant surprise to see him at all, not to mention seeing him present a music award.
Worst Attempt at Deadpan Humor: Seth Meyers and Katie Holmes
Poehler's former "SNL Weekend Update" partner joined Holmes as a presenter, where their patter included a lengthy bit about how all the Globe nominees who didn't win would get a consolation prize of a gift certificate good for a free breakfast at the hotel. Maybe the bit worked on paper, but the delivery bombed. Plus, the premise seemed especially hollow -- not just because the Globe nominees all get gift bags with thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and gift certificates, but also because of something George Clooney said during his lifetime achievement acceptance speech. As he put it, even though four out of every five people in the ballroom would go home without trophies, they shouldn't fee like losers because they're all getting to live out their showbiz dreams. "For the record," Clooney said, "if you're in this room, you've caught the brass ring."
Best Misty-Eyed Moment
Plenty of winners teared up, including Froggatt, Rodriguez, and Tambor. But the evening's emotional climax came during Michael Keaton's victory for Best Actor in a Comedy Movie for "Birdman." The victory marked a comeback of sorts for the '80s and '90s star and the first Globe win for the 63-year-old actor. He gave a long but heartfelt speech recognizing his family. He announced his real name -- Michael John Douglas -- as if to pay tribute to his roots, and he paid profuse tribute to someone he called his "best friend": his son Sean. "Two things I said I wasn't going to do," he said as he fought back tears, "cry and give air quotes. Damn."
