Review: The 72nd Golden Globes

Richard Linklater and the cast of Boyhood win Best Motion Picture Drama. Photo courtesy of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Evan Welsh, Senior Writing Editor

Sunday, Jan. 11, marked the 72nd annual Golden Globe Award show, an award show honoring both television and films. The award show, held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, was hosted for the third time by veteran comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Like most award shows, the ceremony had it’s ups and downs that brought criticism to many of the attendees, as well as the hosts.

Fey and P0ehler started the show like most hosts do: roasting the audience. The duo made comments referring to actress Emma Stone’s large eyes in comparison to the nominated film Big Eyes, directed by Tim Burton, and continued on to poke fun at George Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin. However, some of the comments made by the two comedy queens were not as receptive and thought to be offensive. The two made comments on the Bill Cosby scandal, doing harsh impressions of the beloved star, as well as going after North Korea and the Sony hacking scandal. Besides having some inappropriate jokes, Fey and Poehler performed as most had expected. The real shockers were the awards given.

Starting it off, Joanne Froggatt, actress in the PBS drama Downton Abbey, won Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie, beating front runner Uzo Aduba from Orange is the New Black. Following this, Gina Rodriguez won her first Golden Globe for her role in Jane the Virgin, making it the first Golden Globe for The CW as well. Things really started to heat up when Showtimes first-season show The Affair won best TV Drama, beating dramas such as House of Cards, Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey. This wasn’t The Affair’s only award of the night as the show’s lead actress, Ruth Wilson, won Best Actress in a TV Drama, beating out the categories biggest stars like Robin Wright and Viola Davis.

The TV category wasn’t the only category with surprises as Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel won Best Motion Picture Comedy, beating Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman. Another unexpected win went to Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. He beat David Oyelowo, a likely candidate who played Martin Luther King Jr. in the movie Selma.

With the awards over, the results leave many in anticipation for the 87th Academy Awards in February hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. However, predictions will be hard to make due to the surprises at this years Golden Globes.