It’s Hollywood’s night of nights, celebrating the biggest stars of the silver screen and the year’s greatest films. The 94th Academy Awards, back at its Dolby Theatre home on Monday (AEDT), was a night of reunions, dreams (and memes) and laughs – some of which crash-landed, hard. 

The past three Oscars ceremonies were hostless, but this year we got three to compensate: comedians Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. Despite the usual scepticism surrounding hosts (and unfair bias against female comedians), the trio were thriving. 

Hall arguably delivered the loudest chuckles from her skit inviting actors Bradley Cooper, Timothée Chalamet, Simu Liu and Tyler Perry onstage under the false pretence of them having undergo further COVID testing backstage, when really, she wanted to change her status from single to taken. 

In ABC’s desperate attempt to keep the show to exactly three hours, the Academy presented eight categories – including Film Editing, Production Design and Original Music Score – at the Oscars pre-show. The winners were announced on Twitter and then edited into the broadcast. This decision did not go unchallenged, with revered directors, including Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Jane Campion and Denis Villeneuve, expressing their upset at the move weeks in advance.

In the end, only 35 minutes were saved and the ceremony still ran long. 

That’s not all that was new to this year’s Oscars event. Hoping to attract a more populist audience, the Academy introduced the Oscars Cheer Moment and Oscars Fan Favourite viewer-voted categories, both of which were topped by Zack Snyder for the Flash Speed Force scene from his extended Justice League and zombie thriller Army of the Dead, respectively. Keep in mind, these categories were supposed to represent the entire history of cinema. 

Ariana DeBose took home the first (televised) award of the night, making history as the first openly queer woman of colour to win an Academy Award for acting. The Afro-Latina took to the stage in red to accept her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s Golden Globe-winning West Side Story. 

“To anybody who has ever questioned your identity – ever, ever, ever – or you find yourself living in the grey spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us” – Ariana DeBose 

Making history was the theme of the night. Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar, thanking his father – his “hero” – in a deeply moving speech. For Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion – the first woman to be nominated for directing twice (her first for 1994’s The Piano) – is now the third woman to ever win Best Director. Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli presented Siân Heder’s CODA with the top prize – a historic win as it became the first film from a streaming service, and the first Sundance premiere, to win Best Picture. 

Other highlights included Best Picture nominee Drive My Car winning Best International Feature, Kenneth Branagh’s Original Screenplay win for his personal film Belfast and CODA snapping up Best Adapted Screenplay to make it a three-for-three win. And sci-fi epic Dune swept the awards. There was no match for Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation, not in Original Score, Sound, Cinematography, Editing, Visual Effects or Production Design.  

Performances by Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Finneas were well-received, the latter showcasing why they deserve Best Original Song for No Time to Die. Two songs from Best Animated Feature-winner Encanto got the audience bopping along in their seats – even though chart-topper We Don’t Talk About Bruno wasn’t nominated.

The In Memoriam tribute also received a makeover. A lively performance of Spirit in the Sky accompanied photos of beloved stars we lost this past year, including Sidney Poitier, Betty White and William Hurt. Many took to online platforms to decry this was an unsentimental and distracting creative choice for what should have been a moment of heartfelt reflection.

Milestones were celebrated, with video montages and iconic reunions. But these moments, too, seemed to disappoint the masses. A 60-year James Bond montage was introduced by… no, not Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton or Daniel Craig, but athletes Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White. 

To celebrate 50 years of The Godfather, director Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro made a surprise cameo, and were greeted with a standing ovation. But other than a few words of gratitude from the 82-year-old legend (concluding his speech with “Viva Ukraine”), the moment was short-lived. 

For all its imperfections, the ceremony was going generally well, until we arrived at Best Documentary Feature, and the sucker-punch moment of the night came in the form of a slap. When presenter Chris Rock made a distasteful joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, regarding her shaved head, the Best Actor nominee stormed on stage and “smacked the shit” out of Rock. Then, from his seat, Smith furiously shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” 

It was a moment heard around the world that could have tarnished Smith’s win for Best Actor shortly after. In his tear-spilling five-minute speech, the King Richard star apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees, claiming he – like Richard Williams, who was a “fierce defender of his family” – wanted to be a “vessel for love”. Smith concluded his acceptance by saying: “I hope the Academy invites me back.” 

After receiving an onslaught of backlash, Smith has now released a full apology for his “unacceptable and inexcusable behaviour”, this time including Rock in his message. “There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness,” he says.

“I deeply regret that my behaviour has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us. I am a work in progress.”

This shocking physical assault took the bewildered audience’s attention away from the purpose of the night: celebrating cinema. But in more ways than one, the 94th Academy Awards stole the spotlight from deserving filmmakers, turning what should have been a joyous celebration of cinema into a miserable grab for views at the expense of honouring art. 

The Academy must do better.