We don’t do a lot of coverage of the Golden Globes here, mainly because I don’t think that much of them as an awards shows. Sure, the actual show itself can be rather entertaining, thanks in part to the open bar available to the nominees and others making up the audience. The awards themselves, though, have been plagued for years with accusations of favoritism being displayed towards those productions who lavish the voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with the most swag and other irregularities.
And this latest news sure isn’t doing themselves any favors either.
The Martian, in which we see Matt Damon struggling to survive on an inhospitable alien planet while waiting to see if rescue will ever come, has been submitted to and found eligible to compete in the Golden Globes “Best Comedy or Musical Feature” category. This puts the film into competition against David O. Russell’s Joy, which opens next month, Trainwreck, Spy and
Now, I know that Damon’s character makes a few wisecracks and listens to a few disco songs during his ordeal, but I don’t think that even combining both those elements would qualify the thriller for this category. And apparently there was some dissension within the HFPA, as the LA Times reports that The Martian was only qualified as a comedy by one vote. But Spy director Paul Feig summed it up best on Twitter this afternoon by giving what should be the guiding definition for a comedic film.
A comedy's a film whose #1 goal is to make people laugh. If that wasn't the filmmakers' top goal, it's not a comedy. https://t.co/ikuWK14FJh
— Paul Feig (@paulfeig) November 13, 2015
We’ll find out how the this shakes out when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces their nominees for the Golden Globes on December 10.
