Awards Bring Out Plenty Of Tears, Cheers

And Paul Sorvino cried.

The man who has made a career out of playing tough, mob-connected characters in films such as “GoodFellas” broke down Monday night before a television audience of millions.

But it wasn’t for anything he had done. Instead, Sorvino cried with joy over his daughter winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the 68th Academy Awards broadcast.

That was how the evening went. Sorvino cried for his daughter, the happy hooker of “Mighty Aphrodite,” while Patricia Arquette cried for her Best Actor husband, Nicolas Cage, the cheerfully self-destructive drunk in “Leaving Las Vegas.”

Michael Douglas and his mother cried when his father (her husband) Kirk received a lifetime achievement award and struggled to address the audience in a halting manner, the result of a recent stroke.

And then there was Christopher Reeve. The whole audience seemed to cry when the paralyzed, tux-clothed actor, confined to a wheelchair following a riding accident last year, talked movingly of the need for Hollywood to make more serious films.

Yes, Monday night was a chance for Hollywood to turn away from cynicism and attempt to explore matters of the heart.

And it worked. Mostly.

On the E! cable network, Joan Rivers worked the prebroadcast crowd, using her occasionally acidic commentary to defuse the pomposity both of Hollywood types and its arch foes such as Pat Buchanan.

And during the actual broadcast itself, it was hard not to giggle at the typically absurd production numbers, especially the grand parade of supermodels. What, more than one viewer must have asked, does this have to do with the movies?

(Actually, to gauge the night’s big fashion statement, all that was required was an interest in who, if they were forced to jump rope, would fall out of her gown first: Sorvino, Arquette, Winona Ryder, Laura Dern, Elisabeth Shue or Susan Sarandon. Talk about a descending decolletage.)

Also, it was hard to figure out exactly what tone host Whoopi Goldberg was trying to strike with her occasionally angry diatribes (at presidential candidate Buchanan, at Jesse Jackson) and her off-color jokes (what color is my wind, indeed).

Goldberg may have been an improvement over last year’s host, David Letterman, but then that isn’t saying a whole lot.

Much more funny were presenters such as Robin Williams, even if he did run with his own off-color routine that played off the name of the “Toy Story” character Woody.

Nathan Lane, Williams’ co-star in the film “The Birdcage,” was also funny, especially when he took shots at one of Hollywood’s icons, Disney Studios. Remarking about Disney’s penchant for marketing its wares, Lane talked about a fictional “Pocahontas Home Pregnancy Kit.”

“When the little teepee turns pink, it’s time to buy some new moccasins,” he said.

Even such winners as Emma Thompson showed a quick wit. Thompson, whose work on the script for “Sense and Sensibility” earned her the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, talked about going to visit Jane Austen’s grave and telling the 19th-century author about the film’s good grosses and how well it was playing “in Uruguay.”

Jim Carrey, though, was perfectly hilarious as he aped some winners’ tendencies to make political statements - “Viva El Salvador!” he screamed at one point - and ran through his own “Toy Story” jokefest by putting the toys through a “Midnight Cowboy” scenario.

And at least one production number, which illustrated the use of sound, was brilliant. The performance group Stomp ran through a whole routine in which it provided sound effects - walking, running, slamming doors and drumming sticks on the floor - for a series of otherwise silent film clips.

Not that the crew running the show didn’t try to mess things up. Their strict insistence on keeping acceptance speeches to 45 seconds caused them almost to cut off the protagonist of the winning Documentary Short Subject “One Survivor Remembers.”

But with the same tenacity that she survived the Nazi death camps, Gloria Hollander Lyon stood her ground, grabbed the camera’s attention and commenced to deliver one of the most moving speeches in many Oscar years.

Against all odds, the evening ran fairly smooth. Even when an envelope turned up missing, Sharon Stone kept the crowd amused until Quincy Jones managed to discover the winner’s names and whisper it in her ear.

One of the refreshing aspects of the evening was the number of African-American faces onstage, a situation arranged no doubt by producer Jones (and due, at least partially, to the criticism thrown at the Academy by those decrying the lack of African-American nominees).

In terms of those awards, if there were no outright surprises, then there were few real disappointments. There seemed to be no real crowd-pleaser a la “Forrest Gump,” which made the Best Picture win by “Braveheart” and Best Director win by Mel Gibson gratifying if not completely satisfying.

Cage’s win seemed almost a certainty, which may be why Sarandon’s Best Actress nod seemed better received. And in the case of Sarandon’s win, at least one of her fellow nominees - Meryl Streep for “The Bridges of Madison County” - seemed even more excited about it than the actual winner.

It was, overall, a night for celebrating family. Aside for the Douglas-family lovefest, best Supporting Actor Kevin Spacey thanked his mother and Sorvino thanked her father.

That’s a nice variation on form. Oscar-winners typically save their biggest thanks for each other, preferring to recognize their debt to that professional association of sibling rivalry known as family Hollywood.

They might as well be saying, “Viva la dysfunction!”

Which is cynicism enough to bring anyone to tears.

, DataTimes