As you may have heard, the not-very-good Adam Sandler movie, Grown Ups, won the People's Choice Award for comedy on Wednesday night. Ah, yes, the People's Choice Awards, the Mos Eisley Spaceport of awards telecasts -- you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. To wit: The people decide the awards, and if there's one thing that people know, it's that people are stupid! (At least that's what I've been told.) Still, are the winners of the People's Choice Awards really that awful? Is there a good reason these awards are dismissed as a joke when the Oscars -- which, come on -- are not? Let's take a look back ten years at the People's Choice Award winners and compare them to their Oscar counterpart.
2009
Academy Award: The Hurt Locker
People's Choice Award: Twilight
The film is just listed as Twilight, though I can only assume that this is in reference to New Moon, which was released in 2009. Considering the fact that I will never, ever defend Twilight, I can only go with the assumption that people are stupid. No Twilight film should win best anything -- including "Best Movie That Happens to Have Robert Pattinson and Michael Sheen In It." Then again, 20 years from now, Twilight is going to be a major popular culture influence on an entire generation and it's hard to say if The Hurt Locker will hold up over the next few years. (I tend to think that it will, once people actually get around to seeing it.)
Winner: The Academy
2008
Academy Award: Slumdog Millionaire
People's Choice Award: The Dark Knight
Well, look at that: The People's Choice got one right. Somehow the Academy completely passed on even nominating The Dark Knight, one of the best films of 2008 (and they forgot The Wrestler, too). Look, I thought Slumdog was fine, but it was nowhere near the best film of 2008. The fact that this movie won -- and the fact that The Reader was even nominated -- should cast a collective pause to anyone who thinks the Academy can do no wrong. Score one for The People.
Winner: The People
2007
Academy Award: No Country For Old Men
People's Choice Award: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
I'm a huge fan of No Country for Old Men, so I agree with the Academy on this one. Plus, though a case could be made that the first Pirates film was Oscar worthy -- a small case, but a case -- calling the sequels equally impressive would be a stretch.
Winner: The Academy
2006
Academy Award: The Departed
People's Choice: Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
OK, it's getting obvious now that The People love their pirate movies. Same point as above as far as Pirates is concerned, but, The Departed isn't exactly the greatest thing put to film, either. If I was forced to watch one of these on a continues loop for eternity, I would need a couple of days to decide.
Winner: The Academy
2005
Academy Award: Crash
People's Choice Award: Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Oh boy. I can't believe I'm about to choose ROTS over, well, any other movie. But, if the situation ever called for it, it would be Crash. It's been awhile since I've watched Revenge of the Sith all of the way through (not counting Red Letter Media's recent takedown), but how bad could it be? A.O. Scott from the New York Times called it "by far the best film in the more recent trilogy, and also the best of the four episodes Mr. Lucas has directed. That's right (and my inner 11-year-old shudders as I type this): it's better than Star Wars." (I'm starting to think that all awards bodies are terrible.)
Winner: The People?
2004
Academy Award: Million Dollar Baby
People's Choice Award: Fahrenheit 9/11
Really? The People's Choice Awards chose Fahrenheit 9/11 as the best film of the year? That's actually kind of amazing just on it's own for a number of reasons. Say what you want about the political message of Michael Moore's takedown of the Bush Administration: The People, in this case, made the far more provocative pick.
Winner: The People
2003
Academy Award: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
People's Choice Award: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Now, the original Pirates is a great film, but not better than any of the Lord of the Rings films. As we see below, though, The People's Choice Awards were ahead of the game in honoring The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Winner: The Academy
2002
Academy Award: Chicago
People's Choice Award: Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (tie)
This is confusing considering that Fellowship was released in 2001. Even if they meant The Two Towers -- or if we ignore LOTR all together -- I would still take the first Spider-Man over Chicago. (To this day, Chicago is the only Broadway musical that I've ever walked out of during intermission. Granted, I have yet to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Perhaps my feelings on this year will reverse once I do.)
Winner: The People
2001
Academy Award: A Beautiful Mind
People's Choice Award: Shrek
I think as a society we forget how good the original Shrek really is -- if, as a society, we can forget that this movie starts with a song from Smash Mouth. On the other end of the spectrum, when is the last time you popped in your copy of A Beautiful Mind? Score another one for The People.
Winner: The People
2000
Academy Award: Gladiator
People's Choice: Award: The Green Mile
Both of these films were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (though, The Green Mile came out in 1999 and won for 2000, for some reason). I never understood why Gladiator won Best Picture; it's a fine action movie, but Best Picture? Then again, its competition was Chocolat, Erin Brockovich, Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That's probably why The People were smart enough to just say, "Screw it," and pick a film from the year before. Unfortunately since Gladiator was actually released in the year that we are discussing the Academy gets the nod by default.
Winner: The Academy
1999
Academy Award: American Beauty
People's Choice Award: The Sixth Sense
Other than Crash, I think American Beauty may be the worst film to ever win an Academy Award for Best Picture. So, yeah, I would be on board with pretty much anything chosen in place of that movie. To be fair, no matter how terrible M. Night Shyamalan has become in recent years, The Sixth Sense was a truly unique film for its time and is very deserving of an Academy Award. (It was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.)
Winner: The People
Final Score
The Academy: 5
The People: 6
Um, what was that you were saying about the People's Choice being a joke?