Although Anne Hathaway tried her best to be entertaining and perky, James Franco seemed to have other things on his mind leaving Hathaway with the task of overcompensating for her dull, and vacant co-host. Already a risky move for Academy producers to allow two newbies to co-host Hollywood’s most glamorous event, it’s hard to understand what exactly went wrong, specifically with Franco. In the promos leading up to the telecast, viewers were led to believe that Franco and Hathaway were poised to give the show of a lifetime with sensational skits and comedy.
Here’s what other reviewers had to say:
“In what could go down as one of the worst Oscar telecasts in history, a bad and risky idea – letting two actors host – proved out in spectacularly unwatchable fashion on the biggest of all nights for the film world,” wrote the Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman. “Anne Hathaway at least tried to sing and dance and preen along to the goings on, but Franco seemed distant, uninterested and content to keep his Cheshire-cat-meets-smug smile on display throughout.”
“Hathaway worked her derrière off,” the Washington Post’s Hank Stuever wrote, “[but] Franco came off like that lacrosse boy you wish your daughter didn’t hang out with so much, sort of heavy-lidded and smirky.”
In his live blog, the Guardian’s Xan Brooks wrote: “They’re not doing badly, exactly, but they sure as hell aren’t doing good. Where’s Steve Martin? Jon Stewart? Ricky Gervais? Hathaway and Franco just seem a shade underpowered. They are idling at half-speed, scared of giving offence.”
The Telegraph’s Toby Young said: “[They] actually made me feel nostalgic for Billy Crystal, something I didn’t think was possible,” he wrote. “It was as if the telecast’s producers were so desperate to compensate for the fact that this year’s big winner would only appeal to the over-50s that they decided to hand over hosting duties to a couple of children. When Franco appeared dressed as Marilyn Monroe and joked that Charlie Sheen had just texted him I felt like chewing my own arm off.”
Back in the U.S., USA Today’s Robert Blanco said Franco “seemed to be preparing for a remake of Dazed and Confused,” while Moviefone’s Alonso Duralde wrote simply “Franco flopped.”
-Toni-Marie Ippolito
For all the winners go to tribute.ca/Oscars
What do you think? What’s your review of Anne and James as Oscar hosts?