2023 was the year movies were finally back — and the 96th Academy Awards reflected what a good time at the cinema we all had. Not only was this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees one of the best we’ve had in eons, but the often self-serious award show’s ceremony was warm-hearted, hilarious, and enjoyable enough to melt even the most cynical award-show hater.
7 winners and 0 losers from the surprisingly delightful 2024 Oscars
From Jimmy Kimmel to going to bed on time, the 2024 Oscars were a hit.
Buoyed by a killer opening monologue from Jimmy Kimmel and a communal ethos that started strong and then kept on going, Sunday’s Oscars felt like not just a return to form, but a sincere embrace of the reason we’re all here: to make wonderful art together, have lots of fun, and maybe even remember what’s great about humanity while we’re at it. (Hint: It’s the cute Godzilla toys.) From adorable close-ups of Anatomy of a Fall’s breakout actor Messi, who overcame canine bullying and took home the Oscar for Best Boy, to Ryan Gosling doing Busby Berkeley-style choreography to a neon pink production of “I’m Just Ken,” to the rampant Madame Web jokes, to naked John Cena presenting the Oscar for Best Costuming, the awards were consistently lighthearted and genuinely funny. Even the typically awkward presenter moments were a delight, from the powerful presentations of the acting categories to fun pair-ups like a Twins reunion between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito and a Fall Guy promo with Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling that also doubled as Barbenheimer banter. We even got some classic John Mulaney standup about Field of Dreams.
The lovefest also extended to just about every film nominated — in keeping with the extraordinary quality of this year’s Best Picture nominees, no single film overshadowed the rest. Predictably, the great Barbenheimer extravaganza ended in a draw: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie won the box office, but Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer won awards season; the destroyer of worlds walked away with six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and acting awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things pulled off the night’s only upset, delivering Emma Stone the Oscar for Best Actress, in defiance of overwhelming awards season momentum for Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon. It also garnered a coup in the aesthetic categories, waltzing off with awards for production design, makeup, and costuming.
Throughout the evening, the past and present shared powerful moments of communion, as when members of the Osage Nation performed a drum song onstage in honor of Killers of the Flower Moon. At other times, previous legendary acting winners honored nominees in their respective categories. Paired with Kimmel’s frequent references to Oscar trivia of the past, they gave the ceremony an additional touch of glamor, nostalgia, and camaraderie across the years. It was truly that rarest of awards shows — a fun, uplifting time. In fact, we might even say that the ultimate winner of this year’s Oscars was … everyone.
Winners
Winner: Movies being back, baby!
After a devastating pandemic, a sluggish return for the industry, and despite multiple protracted Hollywood strikes throughout the year, 2023 saw a return to form at the box office. Not only did the unintended Barbie/Oppenheimer double feature propel both blockbusters to the forefront of the cultural conversation, but it was a banner year for midsize films as well, from Cannes sensation Anatomy of a Fall to Lanthimos’s darling Poor Things. Audiences returned to the cinemas in droves, and the movies they wanted to see were, well, all of them. This year was so good for films that Martin Scorsese directed what may well be his crowning masterpiece with Killers of the Flower Moon, and somehow it was a complete shut-out at the Oscars. (Sorry, Lily Gladstone!) To top it all off, we even ended the year with a stellar monster movie in Godzilla Minus One, which snuck into release just in time to pick up an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Hats off to the moviemakers — we needed you, and you came through. —Aja Romano
Winner: Your Sunday night
Despite all the jokes Jimmy Kimmel made about the Oscars being long throughout the show, this year’s ceremony felt shockingly and impressively tight. It certainly helped that the show kicked off an hour earlier than usual, allowing viewers to go to bed at a decent time before heading into work the next morning. The broadcast was also genuinely engaging throughout its three-and-a-half-hour runtime and hardly lagged — save an overly theatrical in memoriam segment, which is always drawn out. Overall, the ceremony provided enough entertainment to stave off the Sunday scaries and allow viewers a good night’s rest. —Kyndall Cunningham
Winner: Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the fourth time this year, and somehow, when we weren’t looking, he’s turned into the ideal host for the job. From his satirical but not nasty opening monologue through a surprisingly funny bit with nude John Cena, Kimmel threaded a tricky needle. He somehow managed to avoid being either the kind of host who is cruel for the sake of it, à la Ricky Gervais, or the kind who is far too nice to his audience full of beautiful rich people (Hugh Jackman). Kimmel, who is famously friends mostly with famous people, had the social leeway to get away with roasting the Academy.
“This night is full of enormous talent and untold potential,” Kimmel said at the top of the evening, “but so was Madame Web.” For the rest of the night, he showed himself prepared to do the most important thing an Oscars host can do: give the right people shit. Sure, Kimmel’s targets included old groaners like how movies are too long these days and how the Germans love sad films. But he also took a swipe at Sen. Katie Britt for her terrible State of the Union response (like Poor Things’ Bella Baxter, she’s “an adult woman with the brain of a child”); Donald Trump, who weighed in with some notes on Kimmel’s performance on Truth Social; and the “bunch of heavily botoxed, Hailey-Bieber-smoothie-drinking nepo babies with perpetually shivering Chihuahuas” who make up his “very strange town.” Only a hometown boy can get away with that kind of talk. —Constance Grady
Winner: The acting award presenters
For the four acting awards this year, the Oscars brought back its “Fab Five” actors on actors format. Five previous winners of each category — Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress — were brought on stage to present the nominees and announce the winner. In lieu of the usual highlight clip, each of those previous winners spoke about one of the nominees, talking about what made their performance so special. Some highlights: Lupita Nyong’o talking about how her friend Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s performance in The Holdovers shows resilience, Christoph Waltz joking with Ryan Gosling about Ken’s male fragility, and Nicolas Cage talking about how rad it was that Paul Giamatti wore a single contact lens that almost made him go blind while creating The Holdovers.
This way of presenting, which the Oscars first used in 2009, added more levity and humanity to what’s generally a largely forgettable component to these awards shows. It’s nice to hear people say touching, inspirational, and moving things about art they love! It’s fun to see actors hug and thank so many other actors! And to be honest, having Rita Moreno talk lovingly about you on national television is arguably better than an Oscar itself. —Alex Abad-Santos
Winner: An outside protest
This wasn’t the most political Oscars in historical memory.
Perhaps some of the most notable moments were a speech from Jonathan Glazer, director of The Zone of Interest, who confronted Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza, and remarks from Mstyslav Chernov, the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, who called out the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Several celebrities, including Poor Things actors Ramy Youssef and Mark Ruffalo, singer Billie Eilish, and director Ava DuVernay, also donned red pins expressing their support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Probably the most consequential political statement, however, was conveyed by protesters outside the award show.
Before the Oscars had even started, protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire made a powerful statement near the venue: Hundreds of activists marched down part of Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, yelling “Shame!” and condemning the ongoing Israeli attacks, which have resulted in more than 30,000 deaths and a dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The demonstration closed a major intersection and blocked traffic near the Dolby Theatre, delaying the award show — and forcing an acknowledgment of the issues the protest centered on. —Li Zhou
Winner: Poor Things–core
Barbiecore may have gotten the headlines last year, but the Poor Things aesthetic — whimsical, technicolor Victoriana with an emphasis on extremely poofy sleeves — was splashed all over the Oscars. On the red carpet, exaggerated proportions was the theme of the night: The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller wore a dramatic Schiaparelli gown, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who took home the award for Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers, chose a frosty blue Louis Vuitton dress with fabulously voluminous sleeves, Ariana Grande wore a bubblegum pink Giambattista Valli gown so large it resembled a sleeping bag, while her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo also opted for drama in the sleeve department. And of course, Emma Stone nodded to the film’s themes and her Oscar-winning character, Bella Baxter, with a structured oyster-shaped Louis Vuitton peplum dress.
The Poor Things aesthetic was also a literal winner in all three design categories, taking home the trophies for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. As costume designer Holly Waddington accepted the award, she wore a look that could have fit right into the film, complete with big fun velvet sleeves and delightfully creepy eyeball earrings. Bella would have approved. —Rebecca Jennings
Winner: Not Barbie … but also Barbie
Not everyone who made the night fun won big in a literal sense. Maybe the prospect of Barbie earning over a billion dollars at the box office, permeating all of pop culture in 2023, and collecting a bunch of Oscars was always a long shot. Still, despite only earning one (predictable) win — Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” — the film’s enormous presence wasn’t lost on viewers throughout the night.
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt had a very comical Barbenheimer showdown while presenting a stunt montage. America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon made for another excellent presenting duo, invoking Steven Spielberg in an outrageous bit about Jurassic Park and McKinnon’s “tasteful nudes.” Last but not least, Gosling (a.k.a. Baby Goose) delivered an undeniably impressive — if not slightly chaotic — performance of “I’m Just Ken” with a few of his fellow Kens from Barbie, Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, the song’s writer Mark Ronson, and even some audience members. While the goofy power ballad ultimately lost (to another Barbie song), it managed to get an audience of serious industry folks on their feet and jamming along. Barbie might not be a runaway winner, but it will always be a crowd pleaser. —Kyndall Cunningham
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