The Highlights, Lowlights, and Surprises from the 96th Academy Awards

The dust has now settled from Oscar night. I wrote about the immediate aftermath of the 96th Academy Awards here, and while it’s not fully hindsight now, we’re pretty close to putting the ceremony in the books. As such, today feels like a good day to look at the highs and lows from the show we got. Plus, it’s my birthday today, so why not combine the Oscars with my day? Exactly. Why not?

Below, you’ll see what I thought the best and worst of Oscar night ended up being. Luckily, the good very much outweighs the bad this year. Could the days of me having to complain about the telecast and wonder who it was meant for be over? One certainly hopes so. Thankfully, it makes for a piece today far more centered on positivity than negativity, and I’m all for that.

Here now are some of the highlights, lowlights, and surprises from the 96th Academy Awards ceremony:

The Highs

The winners themselves – First up, the winners, again, were awesome. Oppenheimer and Poor Things led the way, and while they’re both incredibly different, seeing epic visions from Christopher Nolan and Yorgos Lanthimos embraced is beyond cool. Barbie won an Oscar, which a year ago no one would have believed. Your mileage obviously may vary on the winning films and performances, but it’s hard to argue that this isn’t a top tier slate of newfound Academy Award recipients. I’ll always consider that a highlight.

Oscar winning actors honoring the nominees – I have a feeling this element of the show will come and go over the ensuing years, but I adored seeing those actors and actresses onstage feting their colleagues. We had the aces joke from Nicolas Cage in regards to Paul Giamatti on one side, while so many of the other tributes, especially earlier on during the Best Supporting Actress presentation, were incredibly moving. I’d love it to be an every year addition, but as long as it comes back soon, I’ll be happy.

The John Cena bit – Jokes and set-pieces at the Oscars tend to fall flat, but not only did I enjoy the Barbenheimer barbs between Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling, the John Cena nudity bit with host Jimmy Kimmel slayed me. Is it an easy joke? Sure. At the same time, it was executed well and showed how to have some fun during the show.

Ryan Gosling performing I’m Just Ken – Speaking of Gosling, he brought down the house during his performance of I’m Just Ken. It was big, fun, and everything that we wish we’d see more from out of the Academy Awards. It really brought out the surreal nature of Barbie, which was an added bonus. Gosling deserves an Oscar for this performance alone.

The Lows

In Memorium remains broken –

Al Pacino bungling Best Picture – It certainly wasn’t La La Land and Moonlight all over again, but Al Pacino did kind of ruin the Best Picture moment for Oppenheimer. In the long run, it’s not a huge deal, but you’d think the producers would curate the final award of the night in a more affecting and effective manner, right? Well, apparently not.

The Surprises

Jimmy Kimmel roasting Trump – An improvisational bit that paid off big time, Kimmel got attacked by a certain former game show host and had a terrific response. Again, it was low hanging fruit and played very much to the crowd, but as someone completely on board with that, I was tickled pink (or should I say orange?). It proves what Kimmel is best at as Oscar host, alongside why the job is likely his as long as he continues to want it.

The fact that the surprises were mostly positive – Seriously, the fact that we’re surprised that the show was good is something in and of itself. Here’s hoping that the telecast is a sign of things to come. We’re certainly on the right track now. It’s just up to the Academy to maintain this positive course in the years to come…

What were your highs and lows from the 96th Academy Awards? Let us know!