\n<\/p>\n
The bar wasn\u2019t set very high for the Golden Globes on Sunday night. After last year\u2019s host, Jo Koy<\/a>, memorably bombed, the emcee this year, Nikki Glaser<\/a>, could hardly do worse. But she wasn\u2019t content to merely do better. After workshopping her opening monologue in dozens of club appearances over the holidays, she killed when it counted, cracking up the stars on hand at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., and winning over viewers on social media. The rest of the night went more or less smoothly, with a mix of expected and surprise winners. But it wouldn\u2019t be an awards ceremony if there weren\u2019t some truly off-kilter moments. Here are the highs and lows as we saw them.<\/p>\n When Glaser began putting together her Golden Globes monologue in early December, she told her writing staff, \u201cDon\u2019t be scared to be weird.\u201d<\/p>\n You saw evidence of this in her stellar monologue on Sunday, which included the kind of hard punchlines she is known for, including a good insult of Paramount+ and a joke about the effect of Sean Combs\u2019s arrest on the after-party. But there was also an impression of Adam Sandler pronouncing Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s name<\/a> that was just pure silliness \u2014 Sandler even joined in. Glaser doesn\u2019t usually do impressions, but she committed and it went over really well, adding to the celebratory, fun tone to kick the night off.<\/p>\n If there was a joke that crushed in every test run, it was probably when she mentioned a few nominees: \u201c\u2018Wicked,\u2019 \u2018Queer,\u2019 \u2018Nightbitch,\u2019\u201d then added \u201cNot just things Ben Affleck yells after sex.\u201d On Sunday, it killed again. \u2014 Jason Zinoman<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Glaser\u2019s night started on the red carpet with a billowing strapless gold ball gown. For her first onstage appearance, she changed into a sequined silver sleeveless gown. By 8:30, she was on her third dress of the night. An hour into the ceremony, she was on Dress No. 5 (a sequined pink sleeveless stunner). By the end of the night, she had donned what seemed like 47 more. All that was missing? We\u2019d have loved to see a dupe of Demi Moore\u2019s viral yellow \u201cSubstance\u201d coat<\/a>. \u2014 Sarah Bahr<\/em><\/p>\n Thus far, it\u2019s been an excitingly unpredictable awards season, and though the Globes certainly gave a lot of hardware to already-strong contenders like \u201cEmilia P\u00e9rez<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Brutalist,<\/a>\u201d it still feels like a wide open field. In the acting races, unexpected wins for the likes of Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres and Sebastian Stan produced some of the most heartfelt speeches of the night and made already competitive Oscar categories even harder to predict. And a total shutout of \u201cAnora<\/a>,\u201d which went into Sunday flying high, means that little is decided this season, a fun development after several years in which the ultimate Oscar winners seemed a foregone conclusion long before the Globes weighed in. \u2014 Kyle Buchanan<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Given that Hollywood awards shows celebrate the art of playing a role, perhaps it shouldn\u2019t have been a big surprise that the dominant trend of the 2025 Globes red carpet was \u2026 retro role-playing. Ariana Grande did her best Audrey Hepburn impression in 1966 Givenchy couture; Selena Gomez channeled Jackie Kennedy in ice-blue Prada and a stylized bob; and Nicole Kidman and Margaret Qualley sported enormous Catherine Deneuve<\/a> bouffants \u2014 all in a sea of mostly traditional tuxedos.<\/p>\n You can call it a return to classicism, or a retreat to the past, or the legacy of Joan Rivers, who instilled the fear of mockery in celebrities everywhere. But by the time Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro had arrived in their newfangled Balmain and Dior versions of oldfangled 1950s ball gowns, it was hard not to wish that the stylists and designers working behind the scenes would start facing forward rather than back, and convince their clients to take a few more (unscripted) risks. \u2014 Vanessa Friedman<\/em><\/p>\n See all the looks from the red carpet.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n While the Globes have no direct bearing on Oscar nominations, academy members are surely paying attention, and Demi Moore, who won for \u201cThe Substance<\/a>,\u201d may have landed herself a spot in the best actress category with her rousing speech. Both poignant and relatable, Moore spoke movingly about her career struggles over more than 30 years, including being told she was a \u201cpopcorn actress.\u201d She added that she had received the \u201cbonkers\u201d script for \u201cThe Substance\u201d when she was at a low point in her career, thinking she was done.<\/p>\n But at 62, Moore has had a reversal of fortune and the stars in the room cheered her on, some even giving her a standing ovation. Thinking of \u201cthose moments when we don\u2019t think we\u2019re smart enough, or pretty enough, or skinny enough, or successful enough, or basically just not enough,\u201d Moore said, a woman told her, \u201cJust put down the measuring stick.\u201d \u2014 Nicole Sperling<\/em><\/p>\n Many Golden Globe nominees have been to the Beverly Hilton before. And although the Globes are now a more serious operation than they once were<\/a>, actors still treat wins with varying levels of reverence. That made Tadanobu Asano\u2019s acceptance speech for \u201cShogun\u201d stand out. It was his first win, on his first nomination, and it showed. \u201cMaybe you don\u2019t know me,\u201d he began. \u201cI\u2019m an actor from Japan. My name is Tadanobu Asano. Wow!\u201d His peers stood and cheered him on. And as he grinned and clutched his award, he added: \u201cThis is a very big present for me!\u201d He sure seemed like he meant it. \u2014 Matt Stevens<\/em><\/p>\n The award for \u201ccinematic and box office achievement\u201d debuted in 2024, and this year it was, unsurprisingly, given to \u201cWicked.\u201d The official criteria is that it is the \u201cmost acclaimed, highest-earning and\/or most viewed\u201d feature, which basically describes every nominated film. But it also must have made $150 million worldwide, with at least $100 million domestically, which is pretty much the dictionary definition of a blockbuster. (\u201cWicked\u201d finished 2024 with well over $680 million worldwide.)<\/p>\n This is a weird award to give out, and its presenter Vin Diesel made it even weirder by contrasting, in his preamble, his own \u201cFast and Furious\u201d series and the work of Steven Spielberg (who invented the summer blockbuster with \u201cJaws\u201d in 1975). But it\u2019s also just a tad participation trophy-ish to hand out a golden statue to celebrate a movie making bank at the box office, no matter how fun the movie is. To quote Don Draper: \u201cThat\u2019s what the money\u2019s for.\u201d \u2014 Alissa Wilkinson<\/em><\/p>\n Amid an onslaught of commercials for weight loss injections and various pharmaceutical creams, pills, drops and supplements, Nikki Glaser took some of the usual potshots at Hollywood\u2019s penchant for plastic surgery. \u201cI love where you put your cheekbones!\u201d she riffed to the audience in her opening monologue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But unlike other hosts, she acknowledged that she had been getting her tweaks on, too. Claiming, with air quotes, that she had started healthy habits like \u201cdrinking more water,\u201d she said: \u201cI love how meditating removes your eyelids\u201d \u2014 aka the common tuck known as an upper bleph<\/a>. \u201cI learned nothing from \u2018The Substance,\u2019\u201d she added.<\/p>\n That that movie, a feminist body horror tale, won Demi Moore her first Globe for playing an aging star who finds a grotesque way to youthify herself, only added to the evening\u2019s hall of mirrors. \u2014 Melena Ryzik<\/em><\/p>\nBest Host: Nikki Glaser<\/h2>\n
Most Refreshing Development: Unexpected Winners<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Least Refreshing Development: Retro Red-Carpet Looks<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Most Rousing Speech: Demi Moore<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Most Sincere Speech: Tadanobu Asano<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Weirdest Honor: Box Office Achievement<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Biggest Lesson Not Learned<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Best and Worst Innovation: Telecast Fun Facts<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n