Well, that was one crazy Oscars show. Everything seemed to move along at the expected pace of the average Academy Awards ceremony, with people singing and dancing, a dull
Jimmy Kimmel cracking tired jokes, and the usual speeches about politics and the magic of cinema. And then it happened. Right at the end, when
"Bonnie and Clyde" co-stars
Warren Beatty and
Faye Dunaway announced the Best Picture winner, all hell broke loose.
"La La Land" won Best Picture. Everyone involved in the musical's production rushed on stage and started making their speeches. Lovely speeches about dreams and dreamers. Then, a couple of minutes later, it was evident that something was wrong. It had just been revealed that
"Moonlight" was the real winner and that there was some kind of snafu regarding the envelopes containing the names of the winners. After a moment of confusion, director
Barry Jenkins and the
"Moonlight" team hopped on stage to claim their trophies from the humiliated
"La La Land" crew. It was a historically bleak moment for the Oscars, one that managed to sour the win for Jenkins' film, which was supposed to be a moment of celebration among Hollywood artists eager to applaud diversity in filmmaking.
Check out a detailed coverage of what happened on stage and backstage from USA TODAY.
Other than that, the Academy made sure everybody got something.
"La La Land" may have walked away humiliated from the Best Picture race, but it topped the night with six other wins, including Best Director (
Damien Chazelle) and Leading Actress (
Emma Stone").
"Moonlight" also won Best Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor (
Mahershala Ali).
Viola Davis took the Oscar for Supporting Actress, becoming the 23rd person to complete the triple crown of acting by winning at the Oscars, Emmys and Tonys.
Other winners included
"Manchester by the Sea" for Best Leading Actor (
Casey Affleck) and Original Screenplay (
Kenneth Lonergan), and
Mel Gibson's
"Hacksaw Ridge" scored some surprise wins for Sound Mixing and Film Editing, two awards that seemed destined for
"La La Land". Even
"Arrival" nabbed a trophy for Sound Editing.
The Academy provided another gaffe in the In Memoriam section, when the photo used for Australian costume designer
Janet Patterson, who passed away in October 2016, was actually that of Australian producer Jan Chapman, who is very much alive. So much for the well-oiled machine.
As for the ceremony itself prior to the big awkward fiasco, it was as mechanically empty as in previous years.
Jimmy Kimmel was an okay host, I suppose, but wasn't particularly exciting, or even outrageously funny. The only genuinely hilarious moments were those in which he engaged in his feud with
Matt Damon. But they were far too few for a 3-hour show that primarily engaged in political rants and boasted about Hollywood's hypocritical diversity.
You can check out the video of the incredibly embarrasing Best Picture moment after the jump, along with the complete list of Oscar winners.
