Oscars 2011: Best and worst moments

From James Franco & Anne Hathaway's uneven hosting to Melissa Leo's bleeping win

By Geoff Berkshire, Metromix

If there's one word to sum up the 83rd Annual Academy Awards it has to be: awkward. It was a tone set from the start in the weird hosting dynamic between laidback squinter James Franco and manic giggler Anne Hathaway.

Picking two actors with no significant live entertainment experience to fill a job usually handled by a stand-up comic certainly sounded like a gamble. But surely, the Oscar producers knew what they were doing?

Apparently not. Franco and Hathaway struck out immediately with anemic opening patter and never really recovered. He looked aloof and disinterested (though it also seemed he was simply trying to get the job done without making too big a fool of himself). She was all too interested in getting everyone in the room on her side (never for a second worried about what a fool she'd look like in the process).

The one face-saving element of the whole unfortunate experiment: at least this was two actors struggling with subpar material instead of a comedian simply bombing with bad jokes. But next year, expect a comedian.

Related items:

• Oscars 2011 red carpet
• Oscar winners 2011
• Oscars 2011 after-parties
• Metromix award season guide