2012 SAG Awards: The Help Wins Big

In what was otherwise a dull show, the Screen Actors Guild awards gave us plenty to talk about in its last 20 minutes. Viola Davis beat Meryl Streep, Jean Dujardin beat George Clooney and the ensemble cast of the Help won for their wonderful performances. What this reveals is that the actors branch (who make up an overwhelming number in The Academy) love The Help. This won't translate into a Best Picture win however as the film failed to get a Best Director and Best Screenplay nomination, but it *fingers crossed* means a Best Actress win for Viola Davis, making her the second African American woman ever to win Oscar gold.

It's incredible to me that Halle Berry was the first (and at the time of this writing, the only) black woman to win Best Actress, and that was ten years ago now. The Academy has such a stain of racism on its history and Viola Davis is the actor to right so many wrongs.

The ensemble cast of The Help

We nearly went the whole running without The Artist winning something, but then, the film's star Jean Dujardin won the actor and struggled to get through his acceptance speech. English is not his second language, but he stars in a silent film so it doesn't matter. Today was a great day for eyebrow acting.

It was the repetitive nature of the awards, particularly in the TV categories that made this a real awards show dud. The sixth consecutive win for Alec Baldwin. That's enough already. The consecutive wins for Betty White, Kate Winslet, Modern Family and even Boardwalk Empire proved (once again) that this is a popularity contest. Granted, that there are lots of great actors in the Boardwalk Empire cast, but you know it should've gone to the Breaking Bad cast.

The cast of Modern Family are so certain of winning now that they've taken to performing bits at the podium. At the Golden Globes. Now, the SAG awards. Both times the actors have been "in character" when they've accepted awards. The misguided attempt to take the resentment off their predictable wins ends up cringeworthy. No matter how tiresome the awards show gets, I'll always appreciate Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer for their gracious speeches.

The Martin Scorsese Drinking Game

In an effort to liven up the proceedings, Bridesmaids stars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy introduced us to their favourite drinking game. Whenever somebody mentions Martin Scorsese on set or during awards shows, drink! It was actually funny, but resulted in a very awkward cutaway to Malcolm McDowell screaming at his wife. The drinking gag was then repeated by Tina Fey when she downed Steve Buscemi's wine at his mention of Martin Scorsese - injecting a bit of life into his otherwise dull acceptance speech.

The most adorable moment came when veteran Dick Van Dyke took the stage. All the actors stood up in rapturous applause. He was so utterly charming in response and said over and over again "Oh, please. I'm just the presenter! I'm just the presenter!" He was there to present Mary Tyler Moore a lifetime achievement award. A consummate entertainer. I couldn't help feel inspired during as I wasn't too familiar with all the nuances of her phenomenally successful career.