Everyone says what a meaningless, stupid, political awards the Oscars are all the time, then they get upset when somebody they like doesn't get one.
The Oscars
are meaningless. They're a nice trinket when given, and inside the industry it can give temporary clout to those who previously may have not been able to get their names attached to the highest-profile projects. But they add absolutely nothing to a person's body of work in real terms. If they do good work, they do good work. If you enjoy 'em, enjoy!
The list of super-talented people who've never won Oscars is often more impressive than those who have. Hitchcock never won for his direction, neither did Kubrick, nor has Scorsese or Altman. Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson have both won directing Oscars. Cary Grant never won for his acting, nor did Richard Burton, Peter Sellers, or Albert Finney. Who has more Oscars than those names combined? Whoopi Goldberg and Marisa Tomei. Yikes.
The Oscars are kind of fun to try and predict each year. We watch them even though we know they rarely reward talent (certainly not the most worthy films and performances of any given year) and the show is a crashing borefest. Yet we watch. But getting angry because Jim Carrey doesn't have one is very silly to me. There are lots of actors and dozens of directors I'd like to see get Oscars before Carrey - and I'm not just saying that because I think he's almost completely unfunny (though I'll take him over Adam Sandler any day of the week...not much of a choice in my book) and marginally talented as an actor. But in that vein...
Man, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, William H. Macy, Sean Penn, Albert Finney, Steve Martin, Clint Eastwood, Forest Whitaker, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Johnny Depp, Rip Torn, Jeff Bridges, John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Bob Hoskins, Willem Dafoe, Albert Brooks, Kenneth Branagh, Larry Fishburn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Ian McKellen, Harrison Ford, Edward Norton...this is just a small sampling of some of the many names I'd like to see called LONG before Jim Carrey's. Every single one of them is a better actor and has a more substantial body of work than Carrey. If you're gonna be upset over somebody not getting an Oscar yet, cry out for Morgan Freeman, wail for Marty Scorsese, light a candle for Hitch. Don't give me any of this Jim Carrey nonsense.
Even though I don't care for Carrey, I think his best work yet was in
The Truman Show (one of Peter Weir's weaker efforts)...yet I didn't think it was one of the five best performances of 1998...not even top ten material.
But diff'rent strokes! If you want to see Carrey as being "snubbed" and one of the greater affronts in Academy history, go right ahead. But I'm gonna call you on it and give you an ear full (or rather, an eye full via web chatter).