It should have been bad. It should have been terrible. A live broadcast of the Hollywood Film Awards with Queen “People's Choice” Latifah as host? A network spotlight on the most fake awards show of them all? Even with low expectations, how could talent go on stage and pick up these, cough, “awards” in front of a national audience? An award given to them because they were available to show up and their studios lobbied for it? (At least fans vote for some of the Teen Choice Awards!) Well, watch out Critics Choice Awards because CBS and Dick Clark Productions figured out a way to fashion a much more entertaining two hours than you've delivered the past few years.
OK. Maybe they got lucky. Maybe.
Live events thrive off the unexpected and the 2014 Hollywood Film Awards had a ton of it. Major flubs, some seriously intoxicated presenters and a number of “winners” who had no intention of letting America think they thought the show was legitimate whatsoever. And based on social media at least, it might have worked. The show was actually trending on both twitter and Facebook thanks to the buzz worthy moments and the major star power on hand. Frankly, if the ratings live up to CBS' projections, it will absolutely return. CBS head honcho Les Moonves was even in the audience. He clearly wants this to work.
Granted, it wasn't a “good” show. Latifah was basically an over-the-top hype machine with nothing funny to say, Janelle Monae's musical number wasn't the most beautifully staged affair, the quality of the clip packages was all over the place and many of the presenter choices didn't make much sense. That being said, I had a lot more positive to say about the program than I thought I would. Really, we found 11 things to remember from…the Hollywood Film Awards.
My god CBS, what have you done?
Keeping all that in mind, check out the best of the show in the embedded gallery below. And please, tell us we're wrong in the comments. We want to be wrong on this one.
Full list of winners on the next page.
Hollywood Film Award: “Gone Girl”
Hollywood Director Award: Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”)
Hollywood Actor Award: Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”)
Hollywood Actress Award: Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”)
Hollywood Supporting Actor Award: Robert Duvall (“The Judge”)
Hollywood Supporting Actress Award: Keira Knightley (“The Imitation Game”)
Hollywood Ensemble Award: “Foxcatcher”
Hollywood Screenwriter Award: Gillian Flynn (“Gone Girl”)
Hollywood Breakout Performance Actor Award: Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”)
Hollywood Breakout Performance Actress Award: Shailene Woodley (“The Fault in Our Stars”)
Hollywood Breakthrough Director Award: Jean-Marc Vallée (“Wild”)
New Hollywood Award: Jack O'Connell
Hollywood Animation Award: “How to Train Your Dragon 2”
Hollywood Blockbuster Award: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Hollywood Comedy Film Award: “Top Five”
Hollywood Documentary Award: “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon”
Hollywood Cinematographer Award: Emmanuel Lubezki (“Birdman”)
Hollywood Composer Award: Alexandre Desplat (“The Imitation Game”)
Hollywood Costume Designer Award: Milena Canonero (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”)
Hollywood Film Editor Award: Jay Cassidy, Dody Dorn (“Fury”)
Hollywood Makeup and Hairstyling Award: David White, Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou (“Guardians of the Galaxy”)
Hollywood Production Design Award: Dylan Cole, Gary Freeman (“Maleficent”)
Hollywood Song Award: “What Is Love” from “Rio 2”
Hollywood Sound Award: Ren Klyce (“Gone Girl”)
Hollywood Visual Effects Award: Scott Farrar (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”)
Hollywood Career Achievement Award: Michael Keaton
Hollywood International Award: Jing Tian