'Melissa Harris-Perry Revisits Everything She Hates About The Help In Oscar Preview'

[MADem]

25. We love comedians because they make us laugh.

Laughing, for most of us, is easy--the other stuff is what's hard.

Because it's easy to laugh, we sometimes make the mistake of believing that it's easy to make others laugh, when in fact, I think it's an "inverse proportion" kind of situation. Lousy comedians are a dime a dozen. Good ones, though, are like pearls! And if they can make us laugh, for them, it's probably an easier trick to make us cry.

Eddie Murphy, his sometimes troubled personal life notwithstanding, has been a personal favorite of mine for years, back when he was on SNL. He played half a dozen or more roles in Nutty Professor, brilliantly, and did not get the Oscar credit he deserved for it (the film got an Oscar for makeup--but that was the least of the brilliance and enduring qualities of the film). And like you said, he can carry a dramatic role brilliantly. Even in Nutty Professor, some of his best scenes as Sherman Klump aren't played for laughs. I'll watch pretty much anything he's in--he gives bang for the buck every time.

But before I get too pissed at the whole process, I think of the other actors who never got an Oscar--some of them were brilliant. Cary Grant? Richard Burton? Really, they passed that guy over (I think he got an "honorary" award right before he croaked, but still...)! Gena Rowlands--now, that's a crime--she's never turned in a bad performance. The "list" is kind of surprising: http://www.filmsite.org/noawards3.html

Of course, the Academy Awards is just a club, and the "members of the Academy" vote on who will be the "cool kids" this year. We watch, and we think it matters. It does matter because we like to see people we think are deserving get recognized, but it's not a situation where we have any input or control. All we can do is cheer when a private group of elites happens to share our opinions...!

Anyway, if you can ever steel yourself to see Precious (wait for good weather, so you can get out in the sunshine and fresh air afterwards--it is a heavy, heavy movie, not "winter fare" I don't think), you'll see why Mo'nique deserved her Oscar. Hell, she deserved two. You will be rocked back!