The Brians posted earlier, but we have some other awards to give out before the big show. Without further ado:
Best Use of an Obscenity: The audience at my showing of We Bought a Zoo sure thought they had paid to see a wacky romp about kids growing up in a zoo. They got a heavier than expected dose of family drama punctuated by the 7-year-old Rosie Mee telling the zoo inspector played by John Michael Higgins, “You know, everybody here thinks you’re a dick. I don’t know what that means, but I don’t think that.” Sadly, I could not find a clip of this moment online, but I did find lots of self-righteous bloggers complaining about it. The best part was the pause right after she said “dick” so you could hear all the grandmothers in the audience gasp. My 11-year-old still giggles when this moment comes up in conversation so I must say, well done, Cameron Crowe.
Best Cameo Appearance: Jim Parsons as the human version of Walter the Muppet almost brought me out of my seat with laughter. Considering the publicity the movie got, I’m a little surprised I hadn’t heard about this. I usually don’t worry about “spoilers,” but that was one gag which worked best with the element of surprise.
Best Shtick Which Shouldn’t Work But Did: The camouflage clothing gag from Sherlock Holmes. I don’t know why I didn’t see it coming as part of the story’s resolution, but they did it in such a clever manner that it totally snuck up on me.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back Award: Jason Segal did wonderful work in The Muppets and Bad Teacher, but really disappointed me by taking part in the Gulliver’s Travels mess.
The Movie That Time Forgot: Even though it came out in 2010, we didn’t see The King’s Speech until January 2011. I kind of feel bad I didn’t really consider it for any awards, but it just didn’t have a lasting effect on me. I really loved the film and think Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter had wonderful performances, but just didn’t find them compelling enough to lift to the top spot.
Best Song: Mahna, Mahna in The Muppets. Try to get it out of your head. I dare you.