Opinion: Franco from Mars, Hathaway from Venus

Monday, 28 February 2011 | by Pat's Picks

At best, James Franco and Anne Hathaway got through their Oscar hosting duties last night without embarrassing themselves says the LA Times. At worst, they served up an odd performance that “was like watching two people operating in alternate realities (or having two very different drug experiences)” says New York Magazine. Put another way: Franco was from Mars, Hathaway from Venus. Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times calls the pairing “a little like the attempt to graft Generation Y technology to old-fangled Hollywood panache…: Mr. Cooler-Than-Thou and Miss Eager-to-Please never really synched.”

Perhaps their hosting style were indicative of the whole show, which offered up little in the way of surprises—“The King’s Speech” won for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay; Natalie Portman took home a statue for Best Actress.

Billed as the “like youngest, hippest Oscar broadcast, like ever,” Franco and Hathaway managed to produce one of the “most staid” telecasts in recent memory says New York Post TV critic Linda Stasi. Melissa Leo, who won for The Fighter,” managed to spice things up, however, dropping an F-bomb during her acceptance speech. I agree with Stasi that it was classless, though she puts it a bit more directly: “Seriously, it’s the biggest moment of your life, why would you act like your trailer never left the park?”

But hey, at least the clothes were great looking. The Washington Post did an exceptional job putting together two pages of dresses from the Oscars red carpet:

The full list of winners from Oscar.com

Here’s James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s opening:

And here’s Melissa Leo dropping the F-bomb…and then apologizing for it: