The 91st Academy Awards may not have had a host, but the 3 hour, 17 minute-long show was filled with plenty of heartwarming and gut-wrenching moments. Here, TheWrap rounds up the 11 best and worst bits of the 2019 Oscars.
BEST/WORST: The Host-Less Opening — It’s not your fault, Adam Lambert. It’s just that it’s weird to hear anyone sing “We Are the Champions” that isn’t Freddie Mercury. (Maybe a pass for now: Oscar winner Rami Malek?) Meanwhile, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph made their best pitch to be next year’s Oscars hosts, and we hope the Academy was listening.
BEST: Tyler Perry Calls Out Academy — While presenting the Best Cinematography category, Perry reminded everyone of the Academy’s ill-fated attempt to move some of the awards to the commercials — one of which was going to be Best Cinematography.
BEST: Trevor Noah Roasts Mel Gibson — The “Daily Show” host got to present Best Picture nominee “Black Panther” and took a jab at Mel Gibson in the process: “Mel Gibson came up to me like, ‘Wakanda Forever.’ He said another word after that, but the Wakanda part was nice.”
BEST: Dana Carvey and Mike Myers’ “Wayne’s World” Reunion — A Queen biopic titled after the song that Wayne and Garth famously rocked out to was nominated for Best Picture. So, yeah, like this wasn’t going to happen.
BEST: Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga Made Us Cry (Again) With “Shallow” — Ally and Jackson Maine — er, we mean Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper — silenced the entire Dolby Theatre when they took the stage to sing “Shallow,” their already-iconic duet from “A Star Is Born.” And then of course they brought the house down with applause when they finished. Hey, even if you’ve re-watched that scene from the movie a million times already, it was nice just to take another look at them. Oh, and then the song won an Oscar later in the evening, making this moment even more perfect.
BEST: Awkwafina and John Mulaney Are the Most Adorable/Overwhelmed Presenters Ever — The breakout star of “Crazy Rich Asians” and the “SNL” alum were honored just to be announcing those who were nominated for Best Animated Short at the 91st Annual Academy Awards — even if they were totally freaked out while doing it. These two very funny people had a very funny, joint on-stage panic attack while recapping how starstruck they were hanging out backstage, rubbing elbows with the other A-list presenters.
BEST: Keegan-Michael Key Enters Mary Poppins-Style — The comedian came down from the the Dolby Theatre’s rafters via umbrella to introduce Bette Midler‘s performance of the Oscar-nominated song “The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns.” Let’s just say there are few ways to upstage Bette Midler, but that was one of them.
BEST: Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry Are the Most-Costumed While Presenting Best Costume — When the “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” star and “If Beale Street Could Talk” actor were given control over announcing the costume category, they clearly decided to lean into the job. You can read our full breakdown of their look here.
WORST: In Memoriam Snubs — The Academy had to shave time off somewhere to try to reach its goal of a three-hour show. It looks like the In Memoriam segment — which left out Sondra Locke, Verne Troyer, Dick Miller and R. Lee Ermey — was where they did it.
BEST: Oscars Show Stays Pretty Close to Its 3-Hour Runtime Pledge — No bloated opening monologue and a much tighter show (with a shaved-down In Memoriam segment) helped the Academy stick very close to its goal of a three-hour night, with Sunday’s telecast coming in at just 17 minutes over, despite airing all 24 awards live.
WORST: “Green Book” Best Picture Speech Omits Don Shirley — “Green Book” producers and director Peter Farrelly thanked a number of people – even giving a shoutout to the late Carrie Fisher – but there was one notable omission: Don Shirley. This was made all the worse by Mahershala Ali winning an Oscar for playing him.
