Golden Globes: January 16, 2011

Big winner at the Golden Globes: "The Social Network," David Fincher's drama about the founding of "Facebook," takes a total of four awards, including best movie drama. "Glee," the high-school musical on TV, wins three, including best TV comedy,."The Kids Are All Right" wins two, including best movie comedy. Colin Firth wins best actor, movie drama, for "The King's Speech." Natalie Portman, best actress , movie drama for "Black Swan." Annette Bening, best actress, movie comedy for "The Kids Are All Right." Paul Giamatti Best actor, movie comedy for "Barney's Version."  "The Fighter" takes supportng awards fot Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. "Glee" wins supporting honors for Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. Al Pacino ("You Don;t Know Jack") and Claire Danes ("Temple Grandin") win best actors for television drama or miniseries. "Bpardwalk Empire" wins best TV drama and its star, Steve Buscemi, best actor in a TV drama.

Big loser, host Ricky Gervais, outrageously funny at the top of the show and just outrageous for the rest.

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Big winner of the evening is "The Social Network." The film about the birthing of Facebook and the subsquent custody battle,  takes the prize for best movie drama, its fourth award of the evening. It also won best director for David Fincher, best screenwriter for Aaron Sorkin and best music score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Michael Douglas, who has recently battled salivary cancer, gets a standing O before presenting the best picture Globe. "There ust be a better way to get a standing ovation," he quips.

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Colin Firth is named best actor in a movie drama for his role as the stuttering sovereign King George VI in "The King's Speech." He gives a lovely speech, thanking the Hollywood Foreign Press for the award and the "gentle encouragement," adding that in his middle years, "this is all that stands between me and a Harley-Davidson." Last year's best actress winner Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side") presents the award after another mischievous Gervais intro, Gervais says that the star of "Speed" and "While You Were Sleeping," one where she rides a runaway bus and the other where she's a tken-seller on the Chicago El, no longer rides public transit because "its smelly." Bullock sensibly ignores him.

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"The Kids Are All Right," about lesbian mothers who struggle to keep their family together, wins the prize for best movie comedy. This is its second award of the evening, after Annette Bening's for best actress in a comedy. After tossing a barb at Ricky Gervais for his snarky jokes -- "We remember when Ricky Gervais was a chubby and kind man, -- neither of which he is now" -- Tom Hanks and Tim Allen present the award to "Kids" producers.

Jeff Bridges, last year's Golden Globe winner for best actor ("Crazy Heart"), whose performance in "True Grit" was overlooked this year, presents best actress in a movie drama to Natalie Portman for her performance as the unhinged ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's psycho-horror film "Black Swan." Portman gives a shout-out to "My grandma Bernice Cincinnatti," and to her fiance, Benjamin Millepied, the gilm's choreographer.

Floating in on a cloud of black chiffon, the flawless Halle Berry presents the award to best actor in a movie comedy or musical. Paul Giamatti is the surprise winner for his role as the title character in "Barney's Version," the droll adaptation of the Mordechai Richler novel narrated by an unreliable womanizer. Giamatti is gracious, if longwinded, thanking fellow nominees Johnny Depp ("Alice in Wonderland," "The Tourist") and Kevin Spacey ("Casino Jack") for "being my superiors as men and actors."

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Jimmy Fallon and January Jones, her globes encased in revealing red satin, present the award to best television comedy. "Glee" takes its third trophy of the evening. Jane Lynch, who plays misanthropic gym coach Sue Sylvester, and Chris Colfer, who plays Curt, the gay member of the chorus, each took a supporting trophy earlier in the evening.

Annette Bening presents best director for a motion picture. It goes to David Fincher for "The Social Network," so far its third award this evening, after Aaron Sorkin could took best screenplay and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for best score. The legendary perfectionist thanks just about all of his collaborators.

In presenting the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Robert De Niro, Matt Damon pretends that he didn't know the actor's work until five years back when De Niro asked him to star in his directorial effort "The Good Shepherd." The joke dosn't connect. After a tribute reel of his great performances in such films as "Raging Bull" and GoodFellas" -- 40 years of work in four minutes -- De Niro gets a standing ovation. He thanks the Golden Globes for still giving him this award "after they saw my performance in 'Little Fockers.' " Big laugh. He takes aim at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association members for liking to have their pictures taken with celebrities. The audience laughs uncomfortably as he bites the hand that proffers the award.

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Clipping his consonants, Jeremy Irons presents the statuette for best supporting actress in a movie drama. The GG goes to Melissa Leo in "The Fighter," for her over-the-top-and-to-the-back-of-the-beyond performance as the frying-pan flinging mother to the boxing brothers played by Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. This means that "The Fighter" took both supporting actor awards for movie drama. She accepts with exuberance, profusely thanking co-star Mark Wahlberg.

Edging out fellow nominees Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" and Matthew Morrison of "Glee,"  Jim Parsons gets best actor in a TV comedy for "The Big Bang Theory."

Overlooked by the GGs: "True Grit." Likely to be Oscar-nominated, though.

Jane Fonda, looking lovely at 73, introduces GG nominee "Burlesque," explaining that she's "here to support my good friend Cher....who can't be here tonight because she's in Las Vegas."

Resplendent Helen Mirren, the most gorgeous woman in the room, takes the stage to say, "Wow, there are a lot of gorgeous women in this room." Like so many others tonight, she's in champagne-colored lace. She's wearing a killer diamond necklace. I believe it's on loan from Cartier. Fahion designers and jewelers loan their wares to celebs who wear them and give the donors free publicity, part of the mutual back-scratching arrangement that is awards season.

Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier wins the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film for her movie, "In a Better World." She made the Hollywood film "Things We Lost in the Fire" with Halle Berry.

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Co-presenters and "Date Night" co-stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell quite droll as they present best movie screenplay award. "The Social Network" screenwriter Aaron Sorkin gets it, thanking Sony chief Amy Pascal for thinking "that the people who see movies are as smart as the people who make movies." Yes, he talks as fast as the characters he's created on "The West Wing" and "Social Network." Sorkin, whose screenplay puts Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a questionable light, praises Zuckerberg as a philanthopist.

Jane Lynch, who plays "Glee" baddie Sue Sylvester, takes TV supporting actress honors. Her statuette matches that for Chris Colfer, who plays Curt and earlier in the evening won a TV supporting actor honor.

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Al Pacino wins his fourth Golden Globe, this time as best actor in a TV drama or miniseries, for "You Don't Know Jack," the comic small-screen biopic of "suicide doctor" Jack Kevorkian.

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Aw, Hailee Steinfeld (of "True Grit") and Justin Bieber (pop hearththrob) look so cute together in naming the nominated animated films. If "Toy Story 3" doesn't win, I'll be surprised. But I loved "The Illusionist," based on a script by French funnyman Jacques Tati. Well, "Toy Story 3" won. Director Lee Unkrich looked at his presenters and says, "Wow, were you two even born when the first 'Toy Story' came out?" Pixar guys are even good off-the-cuff.

Ricky Gervais has moved to white wine. Hey, you're not supposed to mix the grain and the grape, Ricky. Gervais introduces Robert Downey, Jr. by referencing his jail time for drugs and his Betty Ford Center stint. Downey skewers Gervais back for his "mean spiritedness."  Then says, "I don't know whether an actress has done her best work until I've slept with her."  Best Actress in a musical or comedy.

The Golden Globe goes to Annette Bening for her role as the lesbian mother in "The Kids Are All Right" who defends her marriage. "I'm very proud of this movie about two women who are deeply in love and who fight to keep their family together." Bening gushes about her co-star, Julianne Moore, and her writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. She also thanked "The 1962 winner of the Goldem Globe for Most Promising Actor -- my husband, Warren Beatty."

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Don't know why Christian Bale got bleeped. Will investigate.

With all the Swarovski crytslas decorating the stage, the backkdrop looks like Zsa Zsa Gabor's earring collection.

Best original song. Two nominees from "Burlesque." Diane Warren's "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" wins. That's the anthem sung by Cher. Accepting the award Warren thanked Cher for "being the eternal bada**" (rhymes with sass) you are."

Best original score. I'm pulling for the eerie score from "The Social Network" by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Yep, it won. It sounds like bees in the hive about to sting.

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Historically, the Golden Globes have been quick off the mark to honor new television shows, and tonight is no different, with two major awards given to "Boardwalk Empire." It won both the award for best TV drama and its star, Steve Buscemi, venerable supporting player, took the honors for best actor in a television drama for his role as the mobster hero in the saga of Atlantic City bootleggers during the Prohibition years. He graciously thanked his many co-stars and executive producer Martin Scorsese.

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Chris Colfer, the "Glee" actor who plays Curt, the gay member of the musically-minded high schoolers, took supporting-actor honors for TV show or miniseries, thanking "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy for being his "fairy godfather."

When did Ricky Gervais become Don Rickles? He's insulting EVERYBODY. And rather amusingly, too. He just introduced Bruce Willis by naming all of his flops and then identifying Willis as "Ashton Kutcher's Dad." (Kutcher is married to Willis ex-, Demi Moore.) In his monologue, Gervais noted that Jim Carrey and Wan McGregor, hetersexual actors, played the gay couple in "I Love You Philip Morris." Adding, "That's the opposite of Scientologists in Hollywood," a crack aimed at John Travolta and Tom Cruise, Scientology practitioners whose sexuality is a matter of much speculation." Don;t want to be Gervais' lawyer right now. Or his agent.

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For her role in "Sons of Anarchy," Katey Sagal took supporting actress honors, giving a gracious speech that honored her husband and co-stars.

Gracious is not the word for naught boy Ricky Gervais who insulted Hugh Hefner, Charlie Sheen and Svientology in his opening monologue. Gervais propmised that the Globes would be "A night of partying and heavy drinking -- what Charlie Sheen calls breakfast." Speaking about all the 3-D films released this year, Gervais said, "Everything was in three dimensions -- except the characters in 'The Tourist.' " Scientology crack later.

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While the Oscars confer the honor of one's peers, the Golden Globes are a popularity contest. But one advantage that the GGs have over the Oscars is that they separate drama and comedy into two categories. Still, it surprised most observers that the Golden Globes nominated Angelina Jolie as best actress in a comedy for "The Tourist." If you give an award, they will come. And Jolie, clad in emerald sequins tonight, is a big television draw. But even she says that she's not much of a comedy girl.

"I have slept with Brad Pitt but I've never met him," says "Glee" nominee Jane Lynch on the red carpet. That's better than anything Jolie is capable of. Looking forward to host Ricky Gervais, who last year carried a glass of beer to the dais and said, "I like a drink as much as the next man...unless the next man is Mel Gibson."

Colin Firth. Mmmm. Nominated for his performance as stutterer George VI in "The King's Speech." Great performance. He says that his sister, a speech therapist, was enormously useful" in preparing the role.

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OK, some awards stats. 5,800 movie industry professionals vote on the Oscars. 87 world-class sycophants vote -- foreign journalists whose publications no one has ever heard of -- vote on the Golden Globes. The members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are people who would go to the opening of an envelope. The GGs honor both film and TV, which is a plus.

Did NBC news correspondent George Lewis really just refer to the Golden Globes -- GGs to you -- as the "Iowa caucus" of Hollywood's award season? As if.

Much better description is Jay Leno's. He calls it "Hollywood's prom."  Director Ed Zwick calls it "Hollywood's junior prom." More than one studio honcho calls it "the second-most important awards event in the entertainment industry."

It's the best mutual back-scratching arrangement in the entertainment world, with stars promoting the fashion industry and nominees boosting the ratings of NBC and their own films. It's also more fun than the Oscars because the stars aren't chained to their seats, they're eating and drinking and wandering around the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton, where many nominees had their Bar Mitzvah receptions.

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"Black Swan's" Natalie Portman looks like a vanilla sundae with a cherry on top. Delicious.

What would you call the Golden Globes?