Galifianakis, 'Hangover' Getting Oscar Buzz

I'm not sure I understand why Entertainment Weekly thinks this story is a bolt out of the blue. According to one of the magazine's sources, whom we are led to believe is an Oscar voter, there is a groundswell of support for The Hangover to be a Best Picture nominee and Zach Galifianakis' name has been mentioned for Best Supporting Actor. I said in my Hangover review that Galifianakis deserved early consideration because he's arguably better and more important in a better movie than Robert Downey, Jr. was last year in Tropic Thunder, and there was a nomination sent out for that performance. And it's true that comedic work is generally given a bigger spotlight in supporting roles than leading ones. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the running. Not having seen the bulk of the films that will get the most nominations, it's hard to say for sure. However, The Hangover ought to be a Best Picture nominee, based on the year to date. Certainly, as it stands right now, the film is one of the year's ten best, and that's supposedly why we now have ten nominees instead of five. The arguments in vogue the past few years have been about rewarding Pixar and major blockbusters like The Dark Knight, which also raise the bar artistically, and opening the field to twice as many nominees creates room this year for Up. There really is no Dark Knight equivalent, though, a movie that made a ridiculous amount of money, was entertaining, and deserves consideration among the best films of the year. Star Trek comes the closest of those films that obviously wouldn't receive a nomination in a five-movie category, but let's not kid ourselves into thinking that will happen. But while Pixar and blockbusters have been shut out of the Best Picture race recently (some of the biggest movies ever have at least been nominees), comedies have been on the rise in the category, with Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, and Lost in Translation all earning nominations, and each of them is at least halfway comedic. But I don't think we've seen a flat-out comedy in the mix since The Full Monty, and with the film's popularity, its advantageous DVD release date (December 15th), and the relative lack of movies filling out the other new slots for nominees, The Hangover has a definite chance to not just score a nomination, but earn it, as well. If the Golden Globes weren't compartmentalizing musicals and comedies together, which is and has been a terrible way to evaluate films from either genre, I'd say The Hangover could even win the Globe outright. That will probably be Nine, because it's a big, splashy musical. But you never know. In any case, should we dismiss the movie from Oscar discussions because it's a wildly successful R-rated comedy that ends with oral sex in an elevator? No.

Comments

[knives]

One of the ten best of the year? It was above average for gross out comedy and I'll give you Galifianakis as at least deserving consideration (even though his what I suspect is a cameo for Up in the Air looks to be the better performance), but I wouldn't even call it one of the ten best of the year so far. By that same token Drag Me to Hell would deserve a nomination for BP, and I doubt you'd argue for that.

[Get The Big Picture]

If I were pooling the top ten as of this moment, The Hangover is very much in that mix. That could change, and it's around the top of the lower half of the top ten now, but I do have it above Drag Me to Hell, in any case.

But where I rank it is kind of beside the point, even if that was a point I made, he said sheepishly. The question really is, what will be the big Hollywood movies in the available nomination slots? There's no way they approved the ten nominee system so it could be ten movies along the lines of Up in the Air or Precious. They want movies people know, and only Transformers, Up, and Harry Potter sold more tickets than The Hangover.

[knives]

Let's hope Transformers isn't nominated at least. I suppose for oscar approved films it might be in the top ten, but I really don't see it getting a vote over Bright Star, A Serious Man, The Informant!, Moon, Up, The Hurt Locker, or Coraline. That's just a list off the top of my head ignoring smaller films (The Girlfriend Experience, Tetro) and foreign ones (Still Walking, Anti-Christ). I'm sure given the time I could name five or six more already released oscar possible films that are at least more deserving, if not necessarily more likely, for a nom than The Hangover.

[anybody]

I would agree and say it's way too early to start calling the nominations but you have to figure that Nine, Up, Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, District 9 (hopefully), Invictus, Inglourious Basterds (kind of the Dark Knight Spot?), A Serious Man, Precious, The Lovely Bones, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Amelia and An Education all have a better chance than The Hangover although I do think it's one of the best comedies in a while (with last year's Role Models and I Love You Man) and higher on that list than some others.

[anybody]

Oh and maybe 500 Days of Summer...

[annonymous]

I wouldn't bet money on the Hangover being one of the ten. I don't think Zack G. will be nominated in the 5 either for best supporting actor. You are wrong about Roberts' role from last year also. He played a straight man through Tropic Thunder and got laughs, he also played an Australian playing an African American. Then he changed characters midway of the movie. Zack played the same character throughout The Hangover for laughs. Downey's level of technical difficulties were harder. Zacks' were not even close. Zack was truly funny-yes, but his character was not half as hard to play as Robert Downey Jrs' was. I will be truly surprised if any comedy men are up for any Oscars this year. However, comparing Robert Downey Jrs' acting to Zack Gs' is hilarious in itself. Robert Downey Jr is one of the best actors of his generation (that generation includes 40 year old Zack G.).

[Get The Big Picture]

Well, let's not forget that even though some of these movies come from the same studios (Coraline and A Serious Man are Focus, Paramount has Lovely Bones and Up in the Air, etc.), and when we're talking tens of millions of dollars in promotion just for the Oscars, some of these will fall by the wayside. That's apparently what moved Shutter Island to February. There's simply no way to spend money to support them all.

For example, Nikki Finke wrote last year, "On the day Viacom announced [workforce reductions], Paramount had a color gatefold ad in Variety for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Cost: $250,000, or about 5 assistants' salaries." That's one ad. I got a handsome Button photo book last year, as did likely hundreds of other journalists voting for end-of-the-year awards, to say nothing of Oscar voters. That book has a $50 price tag.

So while movies like Moon or The Girlfriend Experience might make ten best lists, that's not the same thing. Moon won't win any awards, so Sony won't spend a dime marketing it for any, choosing instead the better bets like District 9.

Regarding Galifianakis versus Downey: The point is both guys played supporting roles in movies that would have fallen flat on their faces without them. Just as nobody else could have done what Downey did last year, Alan in The Hangover is a complete creation. You don't have to be one of the greatest actors alive to give one of the best performances of the year.

Let's also not overlook how special The Hangover is historically: The top R-rated comedy ever, one of the top three rated R movies ever, and one of the top three comedies ever. That's obviously a rare feat, and even though I didn't feel The Dark Knight deserved a Best Picture nomination last year, the fact that it didn't despite half a billion dollars in box office is the primary reason the rule was changed this year and not next year. Extenuating circumstances, we'll call it. The Hangover fits that description better than anything else in 2009.

[janaya]

are you kidding!ha ha