The Oscars have left me cold in recent years, but to my pleasant surprise, the 2023 Academy shenanigans were, largely, pretty great. From a darkly funny monologue by host Jimmy Kimmel to the tears of first-time winners and stellar original song performances (Rihanna; “Naatu Naatu”!), the Oscars shed some of their customary stuffiness in favor of, dare I say, genuine emotion? It helped that instead of repeatedly seeing the same Old Guard faces, a new class triumphed, including “The Daniels”—Kwan and Scheinert—the creative duo behind best-picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Inevitably, there were also awkward, melodramatic moments, as will be the case whenever Hollywood assembles en masse. Here, a collection of highs and lows from the 2023 Oscars.
High High: Ke Huy Quan’s emotional acceptance speech
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No sooner did the Oscars commence than the Everything Everywhere All At Once star reduced us all to puddles. “My mom is 84 years old and she’s at home watching. Mom, I just won an Oscar,” a tearful Quan said in his best-supporting-actor speech. “My journey started on a boat, I spent a year in a refugee camp [in Hong Kong], and somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream!” Quan was crying, presenter Ariana DeBose was crying (even before Quan uttered a word), and I, too, was crying on my couch.
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Awkward Low: Hugh Grant’s red carpet resistance
Perhaps the most awkward moment of the evening came during ABC’s pre-show, when a stodgy Hugh Grant mounted a one-man resistance to the red carpet game, essentially declining to answer model/interviewer Ashley Graham’s questions.
Sample exchange:
Graham: Who are you wearing?
Grant: My suit.
Grant went on to liken the Oscars circus to a vanity fair (a preposterous exercise in vanity), which Graham seemed to interpret as a reference to the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
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Grant isn’t wrong about the self-congratulatory spectacle of the Oscars, but… if you’re coming, expect some banality. The red carpet never claimed to be a sit-down with Adam Gopnik. And please note that formulating pithy questions on the fly, on live TV, for dozens of very famous people is rather harder than it looks. Give Graham a little grace!
Energetic High: An Infectious Performance of “Naatu Naatu”
The original song nominee from Indian epic RRR came to life with a colorful, show-stopping performance of the viral dance from the film (which depicts a fierce dance battle between revolutionaries and British colonizers). More dancing at the Oscars, please!
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“Naatu Naatu” went on to score an upset in its celeb-stacked category, beating Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and perennial nominee Diane Warren. Speaking of which…
Melodramatic Low: Lady Gaga’s Gritty Rendition of “Hold My Hand”
First, Lady Gaga wasn’t performing her nominated song from populist pick Top Gun: Maverick. Then, she was... in an exceedingly stark, closely zoomed-in performance for which she wore all black. “You might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside,” she said in a lengthy intro. It all felt more than a little overwrought, leaving me longing to see her back at the piano, intimately crooning a duet with Bradley Cooper.
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Heartwarming High: Singing “Happy Birthday”
The winners of the short film An Irish Goodbye convinced the audience to serenade their star, James Martin, on his 31st birthday—and for a fleeting moment, the Oscars felt sweet and small.
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Confounding Low: Cringing Through “Applause”
The nominated song from the documentary Tell It Like a Woman landed like girlbossery in ballad form, with lyrics like “Give yourself some applause, you deserve it/Give yourself some respect ’cause you’ve earned it/Give yourself some love ’cause you’re worth it, you’re worth it.”
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Disturbing Low: The Specter of Ozempic
Kimmel’s darkly hilarious joke about the diabetes-turned-weight-loss drug compounded murmurs on Twitter that the red carpet was rife with unusually skinny celebs. The Oscars may be trying (with varying degrees of success) to be more inclusive, but Hollywood’s extreme body standard—clearly, depressingly—remains.
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Historic High: Michelle Yeoh’s Best Actress Win
The Everything Everywhere All at Once star triumphed, becoming the first Asian actress ever to win in this category and only the second-ever woman of color; the first, Halle Berry, presented Yeoh with the statuette along with last year’s winner, Jessica Chastain. Yeoh’s acceptance speech was both euphoric and heartfelt, with a nod to her history-making role: “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh said. Equally winning was the 60-year-old actress’s comment on aging to all the women watching.
