As is our practice we polled the team and a few friends shortly after the Oscars to get their takes. You already saw part one on joyful and horny moments so here's part two. We hope you'll answer the same questions in the comments.
- Who was having the very best time in the theater?
- Who most needed a speechwriter?
- Without a host who was the MVP guiding you through the night?
- Whose absence did you most feel during the broadcast?
Our answers are after the jump...
WHO WAS HAVING THE VERY BEST TIME IN THE THEATER?
Ginny O'Keefe: Javier Bardem rocking out to Queen made me think of a kid at Disney.
Alfred Soto: Willem Dafoe, serene in the knowledge that he had no chance of winning yet eager to chat.
Matthew Rettenmund (Boy Culture): I would have to guess Gaga, who telegraphed her every emotion as if auditioning for a silent movie.
Seán McGovern: TIE: Alfonso Cuarón's son mugging in the corner of every cut away to the family; every gay seat-filler Living Their Truth.
Chris Feil: We didn't get nearly enough cutaways of him in the crowd, but after the joyousness of the season as a whole, it's hard to imagine Richard E. Grant had less than a swell time.
Jorge Molina: There's no denying that Richard E. Grant is the biggest winner in the entire award season. He was savouring every single moment he was in that theater, shamelessly snapping selfies with every celeb that allowed it, and giving the biggest gasp at idol Barbra Streisand. He won that night. No one will be able to take it away from him.
WHO MOST NEEDED A SPEECHWRITER?
Tim Brayton (Alternate Ending): The Vice make-up team didn't so much need a speechwriter as a choreographer. It felt like they were trying to read names off a list one syllable at a time, and could never figure out whose turn it was.
Ben Miller: Anyone from Bohemian Rhapsody. They had been winning all the guild awards, so they knew that had a shot at getting up on the Oscar stage. You could practically hear the eggshells they were walking on as they tried SO HARD to avoid saying Bryan Singer's name. It shouldn't have been that much of a chore.
Matthew Rettenmund (Boy Culture): Spike Lee's speech was — like his movie — all the right themes, but not well-constructed.
Chris Feil: Apologies to the Skin crew and we understand how an Oscar win could yield unbridled enthusiasm, but their's is not the film we can comfortably take a speech that feels lifted from a drunken frat party.
WITHOUT A HOST WHO WAS THE MVP AT GUIDING YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT?
Abe Fried-Tanzer: She only showed up at the very beginning, but Amy Poehler's comment about commercials being presented during the awards set a fantastic tone for the entire evening.
Lynn Lee: The funny ladies of the evening - Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Maya Rudolph knocked it out of the park with their opener, and Awkafina grabbed the baton from them, with a nice assist from John Mulaney.
Jorge Molina: Without a host, the literal best and only way to open the show was to bring out Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Tina Fey for five minutes. Just standing on stage and bantering with each other. It was perfect.
Matthew Rettenmund (Boy Culture): Seeing Tina, Amy and Maya in the beginning made me long for them as a co-hosting trio. I really did miss a host, as well as an out-of-nowhere montage of, like, dancing in movies, or planes in movies, or times people have said "let's get outta here" in movies.
Chris Feil: Honestly, T'Challa. While Black Panther's wins were earlier in the night, seeing the buoyant superhero vision created by Ryan Coogler and his team throughout the presentation of nominees was such a needed reminder of how much joy the movies can brings us.
Jason Adams: It felt right taking most of my cues from Mahershala Ali's wife Amatus Sami-Karim, especially once I saw her delightfully stone-faced reaction to the screenwriter of her husband's film.
Alfred Soto: The terrific Argentine malbec that my friends and I drank.
WHOSE ABSENCE DID YOU MOST FEEL DURING THE BROADCAST?
Abe Fried-Tanzer: Ryan Coogler was mentioned and complimented by all the Black Panther winners, yet the camera not panning to him the way it has to artists like Guillermo Del Toro and George Miller in the past made it seem like he wasn't even there (red carpet photos confirm he was!).
Chris Feil: Perhaps I got my hopes too high from the conspiracy theories that went around last week, but I was waiting on Whoopi to show up all night and it was never to be.
Ginny O'Keefe: I've been imagining the dinner scene from Hereditary as her ceremony clip and everyone in the audience who hadn't watched their screener with their jaws on the floor.
Ben Miller: Carol Channing, Sandra Locke, Dick Miller, Ricky Jay and Stanley Donen missing from the In Memoriam. I hope the Academy has some ointment for that burn!
Jason Adams: Even though I'm not the biggest fan of A Quiet Place I've come to rely on Emily Blunt & John Krasinski's spot in the sparkly movie star pantheon -- she would've rocked the night's pink template, given support to Bette singing her song and Keegan's nifty umbrella trick, and maybe at some point John could've rubbed beards with Bradley Cooper.
Jorge Molina: The awards momentum that A Star Is Born had earlier in the season.
Matthew Rettenmund (Boy Culture): The absence of most living legends. I prefer years when newcomers are paired with icons of the past. Yes, Barbra Streisand was there, but ... Julia Roberts? Is that the best ya got?
Nathaniel R: I did miss a host, much to my surprise, the evening feeling kind of empty-ish without?! But my answer is Meryl Streep. Even though I tire of those default nominations, her exuberance and warmth and humor in reaction shots were very much missed in that relatively sedate front row!
Seán McGovern: Is it wrong to say a host? If anything it reminded me that so often the host is made to do way too much. If Maya, Tina and Amy appeared even just one more time together that would have made the event feel sewn up.
WE'RE ALMOST DONE, PEOPLE, HOPE YOU'RE HANGIN' IN THERE.