GOLDEN GIRLS

Fey and Poehler: not sick of 'em yet

OK, it was less uproarious than last year's show. But Sunday night's Golden Globes telecast, the annual doling out of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's movie and TV awards—it's like a dress rehearsal for the Oscars, with alcohol—still provided its share of refreshing irreverence, thanks to returning co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

(Because, as Fey pointed out, "In Hollywood, if something works, you just do it over and over again until everybody's sick of it.")

The industry and its denizens were the ripest targets for stealth zingers. That perennial nominee Meryl Streep was in the running again proved, according to Fey, that there are still "great parts for Meryl Streeps over 60" in Hollywood. Poehler 's take on Gravity was that "George Clooney would rather float away in space and die than spend another minute with a woman his own age."

Cate Blanchett: extraordinary year

To play an AIDS patient in Dallas Buyers Club, Fey noted that Matthew McConaughey "lost 45 pounds. Or what actresses call 'being in a movie.'" (Okay, clumsily worded, but point taken about how much harder women have to work to be considered camera-ready.)

Accepting her Best Actress (Drama) award for Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett opined "It's been an extraordinary year—the last ten years, really—for women in the movies."

But you wouldn't know it from the dearth of females nominated for anything in the non-actress categories. I counted a grand total of three, two of whom—one of them Taylor Swift—received co-credit for writing two of the nominated songs.

At least the third, Jennifer Lee, who won with Chris Buck for co-directing the Best Animated Feature, Frozen, got a chance to come up onstage and claim her honor. Unlike Brenda Chapman, creator of last year's Disney Princess movie, Brave, who never even got invited to the party after she was removed from the directors chair halfway through the project.

Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee

Fey and Poehler's traditional halftime costume change, with cocktails, was pre-empted this year by Emma Thompson (looking fabulous in a gold burnout top and platinum hair). She arrived onstage to present the Best Screenplay award clutching her high heels in one hand and a martini in the other. As an actor, she said, "I appreciate a good script. And as a writer, I know how hard to is to get one." (Thompson won an Oscar awhile back for adapting Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.)

Diane Keaton was her relaxed, wonderful self accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award on behalf of Woody Allen. The Allen clip reel was a highlight of the show, and La Keaton even sang a sweet little Annie Hall-style song commemorating their 45-year friendship.

Emma Thompson: shoeless

Matthew McConaughey, accepting his Best Actor (Drama) award for Dallas Buyers Club, gave a shout-out to his mother, who never let her kids absorb too much TV or other media. "She said, don't watch somebody doin' something, go out and do it yourself!"

The technical glitches were kept to a minimum this year. The only weird thing was that the section for television nominees was about three zip codes away from the stage, which made for some long, long marches to collect awards.

But otherwise, a fairly brisk and breezy show. And with Globes divided up between American Hustle (Actress (Comedy) and Supporting Actress; Best Comedy/Musical), Dallas Buyers Club (Actor and Supporting Actor), The Wolf of Wall Street (Actor, Comedy/Musical), Gravity (Director), and 12 Years A Slave (Best Picture, Drama), looks like it's anything goes (again) at the upcoming Oscars.