'Beauty' dominates Oscars

By Erin Podolsky

Daily Arts Writer

Billy Crystal dropped the soap to kick off the first Academy Awards ceremony of the new millennium during his famed introductory medley. Unfortunately, as winner Kevin Spacey said in his "American Beauty" performance, it was all downhill from there. Four solid hours (less commercials) of unfunny jokes (eight of which had to do with the now-infamous Oscar statuette theft), tears of glycerine joy and predictable winners made Oscar 2000 a dud.

Favorite "American Beauty" walked away with the most awards, winning for actor (Spacey), cinematography (Conrad L. Hall), original screenplay (Alan Ball), direction (Sam Mendes) and best picture. It was the first win for rookies Mendes and Ball, as well as the first film released by Dreamworks to win a best picture trophy. Surprisingly, the next most-recognized film was "The Matrix," which was not nominated for any major awards but swept the technical categories.

Although this year the telecast did away with both interpretive dance numbers and individual Best Song nominee performances (condensing the latter into a whirlwind medley), it was still incredibly bloated with several new song-and-dance numbers. After three hours, only two major awards of eight had been announced. While this enabled the remaining majors to be delivered in quick succession during the final 30 minutes of the show, the majority crawled like molasses.

Things came to a halt altogether when Warren Beatty was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg lifetime achievement award. Roasted - and nearly upstaged - by his good friend Jack Nicholson, Beatty rambled on about the importance of family and, of course, making movies.

"The Cider House Rules," which closely followed "American Beauty"'s eight nominations with seven of its own, failed to make good on Miramax's no-holds-barred marketing campaign. It won only two Oscars, Michael Caine for his supporting performance and John Irving for

adapting his source novel for the screen. Those involved with "The Insider," which also received seven nominations, as well as box office blockbuster "The Sixth Sense," went home empty-handed.

Hilary Swank stopped an "American Beauty" sweep of the four major categories with her win for "Boys Don't Cry," a tale of a most unconventional romance. Angelina Jolie received the supporting actress Oscar for her work in "Girl, Interrupted."

"All About My Mother" took the award for best foreign film. Dark horse "The Red Violin" won the best score category while "Topsy-Turvy" won for both costumes and make-up. "Sleepy Hollow" won for best art direction. Phil Collins was recognized for "You'll Be in My Heart," an original song from "Tarzan." In a mild upset, "One Day in September" beat out "Buena Vista Social Club" in the documentary feature field.

Winners, for the most part, kept their speeches short and sweet - and boring. Crystal, who has hosted the Oscars six times before, seemed to be straining for laughs and was content to beat a dead humor horse rather than shut up and get on with the show.

Best moment of the night: Paul Thomas Anderson's faux-surprise reaction shot when he was not announced as the winner for his original screenplay for "Magnolia."

Short on surprises and long on the hem and haw that turns a spritely, fun Oscarcast into a tedious chore, the door has finally shut on the last year in movies. Moviegoers will be blessed if this year is as good as the last - and if the Academy gets their act together and rewards the right films.

And the Oscars go to ...

o Best Director: Sam Mendes ("American Beauty")

o Best Actor: Kevin Spacey ("American Beauty")

o Best Actress: Hillary Swank ("Boys Don't Cry")

o Best Supporting Actor: Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules")

o Best Supporting Actress: Angelina Jolie ("Girl, Interrupted")

o Best Original Screenplay: Alan Ball

("American Beauty")