I'm a big Oscar fan. Every year, I have a small group of friends over — all as devoted as I am — and we watch the lavish ceremony, making comments all along the way.

Diss a dress, hiss one winner, cheer another, wonder why certain people (I'm talking to you, Philip Seymour Hoffman) can't bother to wash their hair for the big night.

And of course, we groan over the show itself. The bad film clips, the endless introduction of stars who take forever to get to the podium, the lousy production numbers, the music cutting off an emotional speech.

It's our Super Bowl. We love it and we hate it.

But this year was different. The show was terrific.

Co-producers Bill Condon and Laurence Mark said they'd be giving us a new kind of Oscar ceremony and they sure did.

Classy Hugh Jackman was a terrific host, able to star in production numbers and make self-deprecating jokes.

The new way of handling the acting awards worked nicely.

Five actors who'd won the best actor and actress and best supporting actor and actress categories in the past came out and paid tribute to each of the nominees. Of course, some worked better than others.

They certainly could have come up with something better for Richard Jenkins than Adrien Brody's lame comments, but Shirley McLaine's tribute to Anne Hathaway was an emotional high point of the evening.

The speeches were, for the most part, delightful.

I loved Kate Winslet's dad, who whistled like a pro. Penelope Cruz reminded us how important art is, all through the world. Danny Boyle, who won best director for "Slumdog Millionaire," paid tribute to Tigger from "Winnie the Pooh," for his kids.

Even Sean Penn, who is usually pretty prickly, was able to poke fun at himself, while still giving an impassioned message about gay rights.

A few complaints (of course!):

While I loved Queen Latifah singing "I'll be Seeing You," during In Memoriam, the flashy graphics made it hard to read some of the names and see their pictures.

And those graphics were a bit much. How many times did Kung Fu Panda and Keira Knightley as The Duchess come up on one of the computer screens throughout the night?

But I loved the way the clips brought old movies and new movies together, reminding us that Hollywood has a history that shouldn't be forgotten, that some issues never go away.

And I loved the clips highlighting different kinds of films, especially the one for comedy with Josh Rogen and James Franco in their "Pineapple Express" mode, with — inexplicably — cinematographer Janusz Kaminski.

Maybe the ceremony was so good because of "Slumdog Millionaire," the big winner of the evening with eight awards.

The updated "Oliver Twist" story, set in the slums of Mumbai, is an old-fashioned charmer, one of those great little movies that could. It was like a People's Choice award and the critics' award all rolled into one. How often does that happen?

And to top everything off, the show ended just about when they said it would, at midnight.

And to think they did that without interrupting any acceptance speeches with rude orchestra music. Imagine that!


Staff writer Jane Holahan can be reached at 481-6016. The Footlights column appears every other Wednesday. blog comments powered by Disqus