Oscar Season: Little Miss Overrated!

For a movie-goer, Oscar season is like bulimia: There's so much great cinema, glamorous movie stars and Billy Crystal to gorge on, but when your favorites are overlooked and the ceremony is overexposed, Oscar, too, can leave you drained, feeling empty and crying in a bathroom stall. \nAnd the nominees are...\n"Little Miss Sunshine?" Little Miss #$@%&*$ Sunshine? I can't believe it has been nominated for Best Picture. I still don't. Upon reading the nominees, I let out a yell of rage to the surprise of many extremely frightened students sitting in a Ballantine computer lab. Why? Why did this happen? The ruthless for-your-consideration marketing campaign obviously helped. If only the film was as good as its bright yellow poster. No film this year received more undeserved audience and critic adoration. Oh, what a quirky little original indie comedy, people raved. No! The film was anything but that, what with its intentionally contrived characters. A father who divides people into winners or losers, a silent Nietzsche-worshiping teenager, a horny grandpa, among others -- all designed to be so artificially over the top that they become real. Only I didn't fall for the trick. \nTruthfully the movie wasn't terrible. I understand why people find it funny and little Abigail Breslin was fantastic, but is this really one of the top five movies of the year? There were much better films that could have taken up that fifth slot. \nYet, as undeserved as the nomination is, some good does come from it. The Academy is finally recognizing old-fashioned comedy. It's no secret that the Academy isn't the biggest fan of humor. Of the past 50 Best Picture nominees, only nine can be considered comedies and these include movies such as "Life is Beautiful" and "Shakespeare in Love" (which don't necessarily scream happiness). It's great the Academy is learning to smile, but why couldn't the nod have been given to "Borat," hands-down the funniest, smartest movie of the year? And no acting nod for Sacha Baron Cohen? Yes, the foreigner impression is funny, but also consider the danger Cohen put himself in and his insane improv skills. \nThe other four top contenders include "Babel," "The Departed," "The Queen" and another unworthy film, "Letters from Iwo Jima." Now don't get me wrong, "Letters" was an excellent film, but we shouldn't be talking about it until next year. The second part of Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima epic wasn't supposed to come out until mid-February. But when "Flags of Our Fathers" tanked at the box office (and it just plain sucked), all its Oscar chances were shot down. Warner Bros. then moved the "Letters" release date up to make it eligible for contention, a sneaky albeit very wise move. The Academy loves Clint and he is a great filmmaker. But there's a good chance they'll give him yet another Oscar and well, to be cliché, it's about time Martin Scorsese gets his. Alejandro González Iñárritu deserves the win for "Babel," but if the Academy plans on giving Scorsese an actual Oscar instead of a lifetime achievement award, "The Departed" is the film to do it for. It's a flashback to his older great gangster films and far surpasses his other recent efforts. \n"Little Miss Sunshine's" inclusion meant "Dreamgirls" got kicked out of the top race, but this isn't as big a surprise as people are making it up to be. The film didn't live up to the high prestige its Cannes preview suggested. So much drama was packed into two short hours that the storyline was extremely rushed. The movie was still great though, mainly because of Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. It's no secret Murphy can sing, he's been doing it since his "Saturday Night Live" days, but he finally put his voice to good use (although "Party All the Time" still rocks). And Miss Hudson, well, her voice is … hard to describe. At the end of "And I am Telling You I'm Not Going," I went to turn to my friend to say "Wow." Only instead of forming words, a giant wad of spit shot out of my mouth. The film still earned the most nominations, mainly because of three Best Song nominees. Beyonce's "Listen" was a no-brainer, but the addition of the wonderful "Love You I Do" means Hudson will be performing as well (insert 867 exclamation points here). \nNo big upsets came in the lead acting categories, although Ryan Gosling was included for "Half Nelson." Initially it was feared that not enough voters had seen the film. Same thing happened last year for "Junebug's" Amy Adams. Here's a new campaign technique: Don't try to get nominated; complain that while you deserve a nomination, it's doubtful it will happen. Voters might throw in a sympathy vote or not want to be the one's who overlooked something great. Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker still appear to be virtual locks, although (and here's where I go to hell) Whitaker's performance as dictator Idi Amin wouldn't have been half as terrifying if it weren't for his lazy eye.\nDirk Diggler himself, Mark Wahlberg, might be able to accept a different kind of golden statue than he did in "Boogie Nights" for his supporting actor nomination for "The Departed." I was hoping co-star Martin Sheen's much more calm and subtle work would've gotten the nod, but since Warner was pushing for either Wahlberg or Jack Nicholson, Sheen didn't have much of a chance. Other overlooked performances include Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci in "The Devil Wears Prada" (it's no easy feat to give Meryl a run for her money), Michael Sheen for "The Queen" (creepy how much he resembled Tony Blair), Aaron Eckhart's suave skills in "Thank You For Smoking" and the lack of recognition in general for "Volver." Although Penelope Cruz is nominated, the film deserved much more, including a supporting nod for Lola Dueñas and screenplay and direction for Pedro Almodóvar's insanely original story. Somehow it is inexplicably excluded from the foreign language film race. Constant omission of some favorites always leaves me wishing there could be more than five nominee slots. Also when calling the Academy dumb, I always have to remind myself that this is the combined opinion of thousands of voters, not one single person. At the same time, that means more than one person thought in such idiotic ways. \nFor the most part, the nominees are predictable, but predictability comes for a reason: Those nominated really do deserve it. "The Departed" was such a great mindfuck of a movie I felt like my own parents might murder me. "The Queen" is a fascinating examination of old-time morals and how easily public opinion can be swayed by the media. The scene in "Babel" demonstrating the world of a deaf girl on ecstasy is astonishing. I'm off to inject myself with whatever it is that keeps Joan Rivers going this time of the year.