The Oscars are not for kids.
Scratch that. As a child, the Oscars gave me immense joy and pleasure.
But I’m under age 30, and no one my age should be allowed to host the Academy Awards.
The obvious attempt to inject a hip sense of youthfulness into the very mature annual primary movie award gala was a failed experiment that does not need repetition.
Now, Anne Hathaway looked cute as a button, and she was good in “Alice in Wonderland.” And James Franco was utterly amazing in 127 hours, certainly deserving of his nomination. That’s not what this is about.
They both, together and individually, proved to be terrible Oscar hosts.
Franco gave no emotion. His crooked smiles and sleepy line deliveries took away from the show. Hathaway giggled like a schoolgirl every 15 seconds and w00ted every, single person she introduced like some obsessed Twilight fangirl.
Was there also no need for an opening monologue or some humor or banter to start us off? The pair had virtually no chemistry and did not play off each other at all. They looked more like uncomfortable high school students asking each other to dance at a mixer.
The problem is that they’re only a few years removed from that portion of their lives. The hosts need to transcend the show and the stars they are honoring, not get all starry-eyed every time someone like Sandra Bullock (who would be a great host) or Oprah come up on stage.
It was so bad, that Billy Crystal’s cameo was the best bit of dialogue of the night, showing that while age isn’t everything, experience and talent sure help when it comes to hosting a major event live.