The Social Network was the big winner at the Golden Globes Awards in Los Angeles last night.
David Fincher’s stylish examination of the rise and rise of Facebook picked up four prizes: best dramatic film, best screenplay, best director and best score. The rest of the gongs were distributed fairly evenly between this year’s awards season favourites.
Colin Firth, accepting the best dramatic actor statuette for his performance as King George VI in The King's Speech, delivered a characteristically suave and self-deprecating speech.
Joking that the experience had diverted a looming mid-life crisis, he said: "This is the only thing that stands between me and a Harley Davidson."
Natalie Portman, visibly pregnant, received the best dramatic actress prize for her turn as a demented ballet dancer in Black Swan.
Annette Bening, winner of the best comedy actress prize for The Kids are All Right, noted that her husband – one Warren Beatty – had been named "most promising actor" by the Globes back in 1962. Melissa Leo and Christian Bale, both nominated for boxing drama The Fighter, took away the supporting actor prizes.
The Golden Globes, which presents its statuettes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, also acknowledges achievement in television. The happiest folk in this section were the teams behind high-school romp Glee, which won three awards, including best TV musical or comedy, and period crime epic Boardwalk Empire, which took the best TV drama prize.
It is a commonplace of entertainment journalism that the Globes, handed out by an intimate, self-selecting body named The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, offers firm pointers towards the Oscars. In fact, only one of the last six best dramatic film winners – Slumdog Millionaire – has gone on to triumph at the more prestigious awards. The folk behind The Social Network will, thus, be looking nervously over their shoulder at the advance of Black Swan, The King's Speech and – surprisingly, nominated for no Globes – the Coen brothers' hit western True Grit.
Before the ceremony began, much chatter hung around the decision to invite Ricky Gervais, famously cutting last year, back to host the show. In the event, the British comic, entering clutching a glass of beer, was impressively ruthless throughout.
Introducing Robert Downey Jr, once a notorious hell-raiser, Gervais quipped: “Many of you in this room probably know [him] from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail.”
The actor responded in kind: “Aside from the fact that it’s been hugely mean-spirited with mildly sinister undertones, I’d say the show’s going pretty good so far, wouldn’t you?” Some observers felt the actor was playing along with the cheekily acerbic tone. Others felt the outrage was sincere.
Gervais even dared to address particular controversies surrounding the Globes themselves. It has been noted that two of the nominees for best comedy or musical – The Tourist and Burlesque – received poor reviews and performed indifferently at the box-office. "I haven't even seen The Tourist," he quipped in mock apology. "Who has?"
The remarks were greeted with silence. It will be interesting to see if he is invited back next year.