Critics have delivered a decidedly mixed verdict on Ellen DeGeneres' performance as Oscars host. While some praised the comic as a safe pair of hands in the wake of Seth MacFarlane's controversial stint last year, others panned the ceremony as a listless, over-long affair.
The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman delivered an excoriating verdict, with his review's headline describing the broadcast as a "flop". He wrote: "Who would have predicted that [this year's Oscars] would have been so boring, so long, so self-involved and driven sideways into a ditch by, of all people, the beloved Ellen DeGeneres as host?"
"As a television event, [it] was more like an endurance test. It was a turgid affair, badly directed, poorly produced and featuring an endless string of either tired or wince-inducing moments by DeGeneres, who, by the last 30 or so minutes, seemed to have given up entirely and imploded into herself."
Deadline's Lisa De Moraes was roundly in agreement. "When tonight's disjointed show finally ended … DeGeneres had reminded us she's likable as all get out," she wrote. "But her improvised bits did not work so well – Amy Poehler and Tina Fey did it much better at the Golden Globes."
The Guardian was kinder, but also unimpressed: "She was warm. She was funny. She was likable. But, unlike Seth MacFarlane, she was forgettable."
On the other side of the fence, Slate's Willa Paskin described DeGeneres' performance as "a low-key reaction to MacFarlane and even Hathaway-Franco and the Academy's every other year interest in going in a riskier direction". She added: "Ellen is not an offensive persona; she is safe hands. And if her performance was surprisingly, maybe even overly sly, she made sure to camouflage it very well. She started slowly – opening with literally a joke about the weather – and then, from a certain perspective, proceeded to affably spend the night changing costumes and ordering famous people pizza, while never taking a clear shot at anyone other than Liza Minnelli."
Finally, USA's Today's Robert Bianco delivered a firm thumbs up. "It was the second time hosting the Academy Awards for Ellen DeGeneres, whose first stint as host in 2007 was one of the decade's best," he opined. "It was the second time producing for Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who had a slightly bumpy start last year thanks to an off-key hosting job by Seth MacFarlane.
"And there's the lesson. Choose a better host, you get a better show. Choose a really good host, as DeGeneres proved to be Sunday, and you get the best Oscar broadcast since, well, the last time she hosted."
