Chelsea handlers
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
The 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards are taking place in Santa Monica and Chelsea Handler opened the evening and hosted the show for the second year in a row.
Handler began her opening monologue by calling herself a “microdose Barbie” and took a swipe at studio executives who were “forced to take a six-month vacation” due to the writers and actors strikes. She also acknowledged the big year we've just had for women.
“Women were victorious in all disciplines,” said Handler. “Barbie at the box office, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé with their tours, Gwyneth Paltrow and her ski test. Women are emerging and dominating our culture. You could almost say it was the year of women. …Women might say that. Bill Maher would say, 'Is she still talking?'”
She then panned to Oprah Winfrey, who was there to support the film she produced, “The Color Purple.” “Oprah, I don’t have the words to describe you,” Handler said. Handler then talked about some of the year's “horniest” movies and TV shows: Ali Wong in Beef, Cillian Murphy being horny for uranium, and 2023 as the year “everyone got horny for Pedro Pascal.” She also, of course, paid tribute to Barry Keoghan's penis for his appearance in Saltburn. Handler also took a swipe at Golden Globes host Jo Koy (with whom she was previously in a relationship) last week.
“Unfortunately, Martin Scorsese isn't here tonight, but that won't stop me from letting everyone in this room know that I would throw him around like a little Italian meatball,” she said after a series of jokes in which she stated that she was attracted to older men. “Thanks for laughing about it. My writers wrote it.” That was a direct reference to something Koy said during his monologue, which didn't get as many laughs as he'd hoped.
Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo were the first hosts of the evening to appear as a supporting actress in a film. Da'Vine Joy Randolph won for her performance in The Holdovers. Randolph has won pretty much every awards show so far, including this past weekend's Golden Globes.
Angela Bassett presented the second prize for best supporting actor. Robert Downey Jr. won the award for his performance in “Oppenheimer.” Downey Jr. also won the award at the Globes. During his speech, he took a moment to acknowledge critics who have called his work in the past “sloppy, messy and lazy,” “like Peewee Herman waking from a coma,” “an enigmatic waste of talent,” and “How amusing” was the description of a bedridden fart.” He then thanked his Oppenheimer colleagues.
The next categories were Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie, which went to Jonathan Bailey for “Fellow Travelers” and Maria Bello for “Beef.” During his acceptance speech, Bailey told the audience that this show is a “reminder that LGBTQ+ people have always existed and fought for an easier life, so I thank the people who came before me” for being there was able to win an award for playing a character who represents the community.
Best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a drama series went to Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”) and Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”). Best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy series went to Ebon Ross-Bachrach (“The Bear”) and Meryl Streep (“Only Murders in the Building”). Streep wasn't there to accept the award, so host Jenny Slate accepted the award on her behalf. Wong won best actress in a television limited series for Beef. Wong's co-star Steven Yeun won the corresponding award for best actor, and later that evening Beef won the award for best limited series. Best Actress and Actor in a Comedy Series went to Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White from The Bear. The show also won Best Comedy Series. Many other awards were announced offstage. A complete list of winners can be found here.
The SeeHer Award, which honors the accurate portrayal of women and girls in the media, was presented to America Ferrera this year by her Barbie co-star Margot Robbie, who said Ferrera was never “afraid to tell the truth.” Ferrera, of course, caused quite a stir with her monologue in the film, in which she talks about how impossible it is to be a woman in today's society. Ferrera then took the stage and called the award “meaningful” because she has always longed to see people who looked like her on screen.
“I grew up as a first-generation Honduran American girl who loved television, film and theater and desperately wanted to be part of a legacy of storytelling in which I could not see myself reflected,” she said. “Of course I could empathize with characters that were strong and complex, but those characters rarely, if ever, looked like me. I longed to see people like me on screen as full human beings.”
For her, it seemed impossible to see “fully dimensional Latina characters” on screen, but writers and fellow actors who have since changed that credited her with seeing “characters that I wouldn't have been able to see growing up, but can now.” I see her.”
“We are all worthy of having our lives reflected richly and authentically,” Ferrera said to a standing ovation. The camera panned to Taraji P. Henson, who pointed to her arm tattoo that read “The Truth.” Ferrera also praised Barbie director Greta Gerwig for proving that “women's stories have no trouble achieving cinematic greatness and box office history simultaneously.” Barbie also won the award for best comedy, but that win was announced during a commercial break and did not allow the filmmakers to come on stage. Later in the show, Handler corrected that and welcomed Robbie and Gerwig to the stage.
“This wasn’t part of the show, but we’re very grateful,” Robbie said before handing the microphone to Gerwig, who thanked her co-writer and partner Noah Baumbach because they wanted to make each other laugh and then “the created the world.” laugh.”
Best Song was the next award of the night, which went to “I'm Just Ken” by Barbie. Songwriters Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, as well as Ryan Gosling, who performed the song, accepted the award. Ronson thanked Gerwig for making room for an 11-minute power ballad that also made men cry in the film.
Oppenheimer won best acting ensemble and Emily Blunt spoke on behalf of her “Oppenhomies.” “Most of us were part-time,” Blunt said, before highlighting Cillian Murphy’s performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Later that evening, director Christopher Nolan won best director for the film. He credited Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin with their book American Prometheus, on which Nolan based much of Oppenheimer. The film also won the award for Best Picture, which producer Emma Thomas accepted on behalf of the entire cast and crew.
Harrison Ford received the career achievement award and was introduced by James Mangold, director of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The filmmaker called him a hypergiant and talked about Ford's decades-long career and the actor's talent. An emotional Ford took the stage to accept the award, honoring his career through good fortune and the work of wonderful filmmakers.
“Succession” star Sarah Snook was named best actress in a drama series, thanking her co-stars Matthew Macfadyen and Kieran Culkin for their work together on the series. Best Actor went to Culkin, who in his acceptance speech talked about how Snook and his wife took turns plucking out his ear hair before he went on stage. He was also quick to thank the show's camera department and cameramen, who Culkin said were “lifesavers” on “Succession.” Shortly afterwards, Succession also won the award for best drama series.
Emma Stone won the best actress award and said she had not prepared a speech, but told the audience that she could “unlearn” a lot of things to play her Poor Things character Bella Baxter. “While she's thanking the critics for this award, she's also learning not to care about their opinions,” she said with a laugh.
Oprah Winfrey announced the winner for Best Actor, referencing her famous line, “You get a car.” The award went to Paul Giamatti for “The Holdovers.” Giamatti won the same award at the Globes last weekend. He said he doesn't think his week could get any better since his trip to In-N-Out after the Globes went viral on social media. He then joked about the contestants getting their “pizza in a bag,” which was presumably the food served at the awards ceremony.
There's more to come.