Chris Rock: Not sanitized
for your protection

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Danny McBride: 'Up In The Air' Was A 'Fun Challenge'
Nov. 25: Danny McBride sits down with Access to chat about his new film, “Up In The Air,” and filming his first scene with George Clooney.

Cameron's vision for 'Avatar'

Bill Murray: Filming 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' was 'different'

Shalit reviews ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’

Maguire on ‘Brothers’ weight loss

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December movies
James Cameron’s spectacle “Avatar” hits theaters, along with George Clooney, who is “Up in the Air,” and Robert Downey Jr. as “Sherlock Holmes.”

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In-joke lovefest
Billy Crystal, on the other hand, can play the game. There’s a good reason why Crystal’s opening medleys were what made him most famous. They were a clever way of allowing for something funny that didn’t require him to make fun of the preposterous display of ego that is a room full of people preparing to hand out awards to themselves for how wonderful they are. After all, the stupidest thing in attendance at any awards ceremony is the idea itself — the idea of a bunch of rich and famous people spending obscene amounts of money on self-celebration and expecting anyone else to care. A comedian like Crystal needs something like those medleys that can get him laughs without the awkwardness of the monologue in which yes, you can make the occasional joke about Jack’s young and pretty girlfriend, but no, you cannot point out that many of these people have spent enough money on clothes to feed a poor family for a year and their future charity work will come off just a little hollow as a result.

Yes, every host tries to do a little obligatory skewering of Hollywood, but it tends to be so toothless and obviously in-jokey that it doesn’t really satisfy. How can Billy Crystal make fun of Hollywood? How can Steve Martin? They’ve both utterly embraced images that have made them rich within their comfort levels and everyone else’s. No recent host offers anywhere near the potential for actual hostility toward the institution that is presented by Chris Rock. His recent public comments about Foxx are probably very telling in this regard — when he says he’s going to mention it on the show if Foxx doesn't win, what he’s really signaling is a willingness to question the legitimacy of the awards themselves and of the Hollywood scene, rather than just tease the audience about the day’s Page Six headline about who got drunk and hit on Hilary Swank.

The people behind the Oscars apparently decided they wanted someone who could deliver a younger crowd — the same crowd that has made a hit out of “The Daily Show” and doesn't have much interest in seeing that old guy from “Analyze This” make more Marlon Brando jokes. Will it work? It’s hard to say. What’s clear is that for the first time in about 15 years, nobody really knows what the Academy Awards are going to look like, and that can't help but be an ultimately good thing.

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