The Highs & Lows From the 2015 Golden Globes

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, in their final go-round as Golden Globes hosts, proved the most dynamic of comedy duos. A North Korean military leader practically stole the show. George Clooney told the whole world how much he loves his wife. A few gags went haywire. Others just fizzled out. Here are our picks for the best and worst moments from Sunday’s 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

HIGH: Fey and Poehler’s Opening Monologue

Sure, it was a bit predictable at times — the over/under on the first Interview/North Korea joke was set around one minute, and they dropped one less than 30 seconds in. But Tina Fey and Amy Poehler delivered one of their trademark sublime show opens, with highlights that included labeling a game Emma Stone a Big Eyes painting, calling out Joaquin Phoenix on his previous comments about awards shows, and revealing that quirky filmmaker Wes Anderson arrived on “a bicycle made of antique tuba parts.” The co-hosts’ game of “Who Would You Rather?” (Colin Firth or Colin Farrell? Richard Linklater or Alejandro González Iñárritu?) brought chuckles from the crowd. There were (intentionally) bad British accents, bad singing, and bad Bill Cosby impressions (which triggered the loudest reaction in the room), but the overall monologue was pure goodness. How about one more year, ladies?

LOW: That Aniston-Cumberbatch Experiment

Fey and Poehler wrapped their opening by asking, “Who wants to present the first award” alongside Jennifer Aniston. Cue the wide-eyed Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), who made his way to the stage like a Price Is Right contestant. But the experiment fell flat. After the pair traded compliments, they awkwardly stumbled over one another, with Aniston at one point scolding Cumberbatch: “You just screwed up my line.” Whether it was spontaneous or scripted, it simply failed.

HIGH: Margaret Cho Commandeers the Show

We predicted that North Korea/Interview jokes might get a little tired midway through the telecast, but the Margaret Cho bit was anything but. Fey and Poehler introduced “the newest Hollywood Foreign Press member” and contributor to “Movies Wow! Magazine" and it turned out that North Korean military leader Chow-yun Ja, played by the sorely underappreciated Cho. The solemn-faced general then insisted on a photo with Meryl Streep (taken by Michael Keaton and photobombed by Benedict Cumberbatch). Cho returned later to criticize the show’s lack of showiness (“You no have 1,000 babies playing guitar at same time… you no have Dennis Rodman”) and voice her dissatisfaction that Orange Is the New Black was in the Comedy, not Drama, category (“It’s funny, but not ha-ha funny”). The general returned one last time, at the very end of the ceremony, to declare her intention to host next year’s show. We’ll take it.

LOW: Jeremy Renner Does Comedy

Jeremy Renner is an excellent actor known for his dramatic chops in The Hurt Locker and action heroics in The Avengers. But his attempt at the funny flopped on Sunday: While presenting Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie with Jennifer Lopez, Renner told his co-presenter, “You got the Globes, too,” stealing a look at J. Lo’s revealing cleavage. It came across as creepy, not amusing.

HIGH: Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader Misremember Movie Lines

Two years ago, Kristen Wiig killed at the Golden Globes mangling movie plots with co-presenter Will Ferrell. This year she put a different spin on it with her Skeleton Twins/Saturday Night Live partner Bill Hader: To stress the importance of great writing while presenting the award for Best Screenplay, they traded off famous dialogue from classic films — albeit dialogue they made up. You know, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s “famous” line from the climax of Titanic: "Hey, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys! Relax!” The joke’s concept was good enough, but what was really winning was seeing two very funny friends revel in cracking each other up. It was like being a witness to how the two likely act in the corner at a party… except it was a party watched by millions.

HIGH: Poignant, Profound, and Pithy Speeches

The winners’ acceptance speeches were exceptionally good this year. A few of our favorites:

·      An over-the-moon, short-on-breath Gina Rodriguez (Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy for   Jane the Virgin ) cried, talked about the show’s resonance with the Latino culture and quoted her dad’s advice: “My father used to tell me to say every morning, ‘Today’s gonna be a great day, I can and I will.’ Well, Dad, I can and I did!”

·      Amy Adams (Best Actress, Musical or Comedy for   Big Eyes ) mentioned a couple times that she was ill-prepared to accept but still graciously gushed about all the female role models in the room. "I have a 4 1/2-year-old, and I’m so grateful to have all the women in this room. You speak to her so loudly.

·      Likewise Jeffrey Tambor (Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy for Transparent) said his award was much bigger than himself and dedicated his performance and trophy to the transgender community: “Thank you for your courage, thank you for the inspiration, thank you for your patience, and thank you for letting us be part of the change.”

·      Maggie Gyllenhaal (Best Actress, Miniseries or TV Movie for   The Honorable Woman ) commended Hollywood for creating a “ wealth of roles for actual women . " " That’s what I think is revolutionary and evolutionary, and it’s what’s turning me on.

·      Kevin Spacey (Best Actor, TV Drama for   House of Cards ) dropped an F-bomb remarking over the fact that he finally won a Globe after eight nominations. He then shared a touching anecdote about visiting an ailing  Stanley Kramer, and how the acclaimed filmmaker said, “I just wish my films could have been better.” “ So as I stand here tonight as someone who has enjoyed such an extraordinary career and in large measure because of the people in this room,” said Spacey, “I just want it to be better. I just want to be better, but this is very encouraging.”

·      Oscar favorite Michael Keaton (Best Actor, Musical or Comedy for   Birdman ) expressed gratitude and humility in recounting his blue-collar Pennsylvania upbringing. He then welled up when thanking his son: ” My best friend is kind, intelligent, funny, talented, considerate, thoughtful. Did I say kind? He also — he also happens to be my son, Sean.”

·      Finally there was Billy Bob Thornton’s speech, the entirety of which could fill a tweet or two. “ These days, you get in a lot of trouble no matter what you say. Do you know what I mean? You can say anything in the world and get in trouble. I know this for a fact. So I’m just going to say, ‘Thank you.’”

LOW: Ricky Gervais Casting Stones

Like an ex-husband who delivers the toast at his former wife’s second wedding, Ricky Gervais appeared onstage, drink in hand (as he was known to do as a controversial two-time Globes host), and had at Hollywood for old time’s sake. He started off promising, roasting the A-listers even though the “ordinary people at home” don’t like it when he disses celebrities. “So I’m not going to start picking on things you’ve done,” he said. “Some of it immoral. A lot of it illegal… I’m not going to get into the terrible things you’ve done to get here. Streep. Clooney. I’m not even looking at Katie Holmes.” Just as we were enjoying his return, he ran through the nominees for Best Actress, Comedy or Musical, and he flat-out butchered the pronunciation of Annie's Quvenzhané Wallis’s name, calling her something like "Kwen-ven-jolly." Then he had the audacity to proclaim he had been practicing to avoid being this year’s John Travolta/ “Adele Dazeem.” Glass houses, Ricky.

HIGH: George Clooney’s Tribute to His New Bride

There’s a reason they call George Clooney Mr. Hollywood, and the effervescent charm of the industry’s poster boy was on full display as he accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Globes’ lifetime achievement honor. Clooney was self-effacing with Monuments Men jokes and generous to his contemporaries with the assurance that “even the losers in this room are winners just being in this room… You’ve caught the brass ring. You get to do what you’ve always dreamed to do and be celebrated for it.” But he saved his best, most tender remarks to celebrate his new wife, Amal. “It’s a humbling thing when you find someone to love,” he said. “Even better, if you’ve been waiting your whole life. … Amal, whatever alchemy it is that brought us together, I couldn’t be more proud to be your husband.” Like his friends/presenters Julianna Margulies and Don Cheadle, we weren’t invited to the couple’s wedding, but now it kind of feels like we were there.