While the Golden Globes have always played second fiddle to the Academy Awards, they have often set the precedent for awards season, foreshadowing the winners of future shows. Even with the Hollywood Foreign Press’s controversies and the frequent drunken celebrity speeches, the show still holds an important role in awards season. After a somewhat successful comeback in 2023 with host Jerrod Carmichael, hopes were high that the 2024 Golden Globes would be an entertaining celebration of last year’s film and television shows.
Groan-Worthy Humor
Those hopes were quickly dashed by one of the worst opening monologues from host Jo Koy. For an excruciatingly long 10 minutes, Koy made bottom-of-the-barrel jokes about “Oppenheimer”’s three-hour runtime and an offensive dig at “Barbie,” calling it a film based on “a doll with big boobies.” As the camera passed across the stars in attendance, stone-faced stares solidified how distressingly unfunny Koy’s bits were. Sighs of relief could be heard as the first presenters walked on stage and began the meat of the show.
Unfortunately, many of the awards presenters also shared jokes that crashed and burned, only saved by the following read of nominations that served as a quick distraction from humor-less humor.
Spectacular Wins and Speeches
As for television wins, three shows stood above the rest: “Beef,” “The Bear,” and “Succession.” Leads of the show “Beef,” Ali Wong and Steven Yuen, each took home gold for best actor and actress in a miniseries or motion picture for TV. The show itself won the overall award for best miniseries. “The Bear” won best television series, musical or comedy, with stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri winning the acting awards for the same category. Edebiri’s flustered speech was particularly memorable as she thanked all of her agents and manager’s assistants who responded to her emails.
“Succession” won best television series, drama, for its fourth and final season, a well-deserved win for the massively popular show. “Succession” was also represented in the acting categories as actors Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen and Kieran Culkin all received trophies for their work. During Culkin’s speech, he made a fun and lighthearted poke at one of his fellow nominees, Pedro Pascal, saying “Suck it, Pedro,” another memorably charming moment from the evening.
For films, “Oppenheimer” dominated by taking best original score, director, drama motion picture and actor and supporting actor in a drama motion picture. The highlights of these wins were Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy’s speeches. The longtime “partners in crimes” showed real appreciation for the awards and were touched by finally making it to the stage at the show, each having been nominated before but never won.
“Barbie” surprisingly only won two awards, one being in the show’s newest category, “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,” an award for seemingly the film that made the most money within 2023. Despite the lack of wins, Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and Greta Gerwig proudly took the stage, happy to acknowledge the cultural movement that was “Barbie.” The other win was given to Billie Eilish for her song “What Was I Made For?” which capped off the emotional finale of “Barbie,” an ending that left many teary-eyed.
Other notable awards were handed out to Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for “The Holdovers” and Emma Stone for “Poor Things.” The latter, a unique dark comedy, also won best motion picture and musical or comedy — a surprise to many but not an unpleasant one. French filmmaker Justine Triet took the stage twice for her film “Anatomy of a Fall,” another pair of surprises that will hopefully bring wider attention to the thrilling court drama. The best-animated motion picture was given to Hayao Miyazaki’s newest film “The Boy and the Heron,” another masterpiece from the Japanese animator that created “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle.”
Lastly, actress Lily Gladstone gave a powerful speech after winning best supporting actress in a drama motion picture for her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The win is historic as it is the first time an Indigenous person has won a Golden Globe. “This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little native kid out there who has a dream,” Gladstone said.
The 81st Golden Globes were far from perfect, being littered with many failed attempts at humor. That said, when it came to the actual awards and speeches, it was a joy and a true celebration of film and television, as intended. Hopefully, future shows in this awards season will take notes and remember why some of us still tune in every year.
g.jones@dailyutahchronicle.com
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