Can Slumdog Millionaire be stopped? Danny Boyle’s endearing drama picked up top honors at the Producers Guild and Screen Actors Guild awards this weekend, winning best picture at the PGA and the best cast prize at SAG. I had predicted Milk to win the big ensemble prize, thinking that the SAG voters would be more likely to give an award to established actors like Sean Penn and Josh Brolin than a bunch of unknown kids from India, but as an astute Academy member said to me after the awards last night, “A lot of times SAG treats the best cast award like Best Picture, because it’s the closest thing they have.” If that’s the case, then the outcome makes perfect sense. In any case, Slumdog now has two more huge wins to add to its victories at the Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Awards, and National Board of Review.
The four acting races lined up with my predictions. Sean Penn topped Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, making him the frontrunner for the Oscar next month, while Heath Ledger was named Best Supporting Actor to the surprise of no one. Kate Winslet won her third consecutive supporting-actress trophy for The Reader, while Meryl Streep won the only award for Doubt. This means that the two female SAG-winning performances will duke it out for the Oscar, since the Academy placed Winslet in the lead category for The Reader. Now the race is really on.
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It seems that both of the lead acting categories are going to be tight races this year. For Best Actor, it’s between Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke; for Best Actress, it’s between Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep. I’m hoping to see Streep pull a win, but I haven’t seen any of the other films.
Slumdog also won an award for Most Overrated Film of 2008! congrats slumdong!
There’s no way Winslet will win Best Actress! It’s Meryl vs. Anne for Best Actress
i think the film is just fine – but it’s not remotely deserving of all the awards it’s racking up. and best ACTING ensemble? REALLY? over films like milk, doubt, etc. the only acting i was impressed by was the kids. dev patel just looked stiff and scared and frieda pinto just stood there looking pretty.
Slumdog is a very fine film….but I worry with all the awards it’s picking up (especailly the BEST ENSEMBLE? from SAG??????) the backlash is going to hit the fans soon….if it hasn’t already!
find it all irritating how Kate W. is considered a supporting actress for the Reader for some awards, yet a lead for the same role in others, like Oscar??? It’s a LEAD role!! It’s like her agents just wanted to make sure she won something. It makes her look desperate for a win regardless of the category (and takes a supporting slot away from other deserving actresses). I like her, but all of this starting to make me like her less, makes her seem fake. So for all this supporting and lead actress confusion, I hope Meryl wins the Oscar too.
Slumdog is now officially overrated.
wow … it never ceases to amaze me how big the number of idiots are on these comments. First of all, Winslet deserves the F*CKING Oscar already… the number of actresses who have one over her who don’t come close to her range is mind-blowing. Second… Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore did the same sh!t back when The Hours in 2003 was competing with their other films Adaptation and Far From Heaven placing themselves in both Supporting and Lead when in fact Meryl was truly supporting in both while Julianne was truly leading in both… so shut the hell up. If Hathaway gets the Oscar over Winslet I’ll never watch the Oscars again. Its not that she not good, its that Winslet and Streep are mind-blowing great. I want Winslet to win for many reasons including the fact its about time she gets recognized… but also bc she gave two raw, passionate performances that dazzle you in your seat in the theater.
I agree that Slumdog is overrated. I just don’t see it being a classic in years to come. Out of the best pic nominees, it would seem to me that Milk would be the most worthy to win based on critics’ reviews.
Meryl Streep’s overacted over the top performance in Doubt was equaled by her over the top over acted speech last night! This is Kate’s year. She deserves Oscar for The Reader and after 6 at-bats, it’s about time!
Quite frankly, you come across like the idiot. You come on here lambasting people for their opinions. Then you mention almost every reason Kate should win except the actual performance: the fact that she deserves one (I agree), the fact that she is in same league as Meryl (I almost agree), the fact that she gave 2 great performances this year (haven’t seen either film, but I can believe you). However, it doesn’t matter if she deserves one in general, if she is an amazing actress in general, or if she gave 2 awesome performances this year. Was she the best actress in THE READER over everyone else THIS YEAR! Maybe so, but, regardless, you shouldn’t call people out when your opinion comes across less thought out than theirs.
Slumdog as BEST CAST? Are they KIDDING? Takes a lot of their credibility away when they vote like sheep and follow the leader. It’s time for a Slumdog backlash. It’s not THAT good.
Lindsay I love you
Paige is correct: slumdog did win the award for the most overrated film of the year.
Winslet is a lock to win the Oscar. She’s liked by the Academy, thought to be deserving and so far overlooked, they’ve been gong with younger winners in this category lately, she’s been racking up the trophies this season, she’s only in one category (no vote splitting) AND her movie got a Best Pic nomination. Nice moment for Meryl last night but Kate will win on Oscar Night. Bet on it!
Mike, I respectfully disagree. I thought Meryl’s speech was one of the best speeches of the night and Meryl was genuinely surprised and as usual, very funny. Kate Winslet’s acceptance speech was very phony. She knew she was the favorite to win the SAG last night. I hope this means that either Meryl or Anne (my personal favorite female performance of the year) will win the Oscar. Miranda Priestly vs. Andy Sachs…Round 2
“A lot of times SAG treats the best cast award like Best Picture, because it’s the closest thing they have.” I think that hits the nail on the head. Otherwise it would have gone to ‘Milk’ or ‘Doubt’.
Agree that Slumdog is very overrated. It’s a superficial crowd pleaser, nothing beneath the surface.
Dear God, please award Winslet her Oscar.
I completely agree with Aaron- the Cast in Slumdog wasnt that good- you know, I wouldnt I put Slumdog in my top 10 of the year, let alone the BEST MOVIE of the year– i have a feeling we are gonna recall this award the week after… It seems like every other year- they hand out Best Picture to the most unworthiest of Pictures of the year lol… Yawn- and it was such a good year too
youre right matthew- very superficial! i found also found it as subtle as a jack-hammer…
Definitely..Slumdog Milionaires is so overrated!!!!They do not deserve to win for Best Cast Esemble!!!..can’t wait for them to go away!
1) Why do I think Slumdog is just now generating “overrated” buzz because people are starting to get tired of watching it win every award? The fact is it DESERVES every award, even this one. It is a classic, it will be a classic for years to come, and come Oscar time, it will be Best Picture.
2) Milk was not that good. Sorry, I know I’m the minority. But it wasn’t. As a gay man myself, I’m particularly offended that I’m supposed to rally around this cold, charmless film as a step towards acceptance. Brokeback didn’t do anything for me or the Academy, and Milk’s gonna get the same treatment. (One exception: Penn does deserve the Oscar.)
3) Past performance makes no difference in Oscarland. I don’t care if Kate Winslet has 238 nominations. Her Reader performance is WEAK. Definitely weaker than Hathaway’s or Streep’s. She played the Lead/Supporting split and lost. Now she’s paying the price.
4) To correct Jordan- the critical response to Slumdog has been much better than to Milk.
dear dave karger: your insight is spot on. i’ve never met anyone who is more of an oscar specialist than myself, but you are tops. keep up the great work. you make my day.
Paige- out of curiosity, what would you name Best Picture this year? Since you’re so adamantly anti-Slumdog after all.
slumdog is ‘rocky indian style’ predictable underdog story…seen it all before. throw in some graphic poop and blood and it becomes new and novel. whatever! i’m hoping for a milk upset.
ryrynyc, check your facts!!! meryl was nominated in 2003 under supporting actress for “adaptation”. she was not nominated as lead for “the hours” because she pulled herself out of that category to give nicole kidman a better chance as the latter was getting the buzz after her divorce from tom cruise.
julianne moore was a double nominee —lead for “far from heaven” and supporting for “the hours”.
so it’s not like kate winslet’s category fraud, which worked at the globes, half-failed at the sag. but the academy and the bafta didn’t bite that “sure win” gambit.
i personally want to see the bafta because then winslet will be competing against herself AND against other actresses for lead!
winslet can have her win at the bafta, BUT MERYL STREEP DESERVES THE OSCAR for “doubt”!
I think Slumdog definitely deserves Best Picture, but it winning Best Cast Ensemble frustrated me. BEST CAST. BEST CAST, not best picture. I agreed that Milk should have won. Milk was a wonderful film, but it would have been nothing without the pitch-perfect performances each of the actors and actresses, however big or small their roles, gave. Their heartfelt energy, passion, chemistry – just awesome. Slumdog obviously had very good performances, but no standouts. Even Doubt would have been a better choice. Ridonkulous, I say.
I dont think Slumdog is overrated. It desevres all the attention it’s getting.
Out of the 5 best pic noms, I only saw Slumdong, Milk and Benjamin Button but out of those 3- Milk, for me, was far and away the better of the 3. BB was really good but it was too long and the comparisons to Forrest Gump are almost uncanny, still it had some breathtaking visuals and i loved its scope- technically the best looking film of the year. Slumdog was good. But, I found the plot completely predictable once i knew what the gimmick was. The first half was good but then the second half was just subpar. I appreciated the “gritty” style of it and its hyper editing. but overall, i wasnt into the characters and their purpose. especially the girl- she was just weak and i just didnt buy it. then to top it all off, you can spot the happy ending a mile away since there was absolutely NO suspense (especially if youve read the 3 musketeers) and THEN a horribly choreographed musical number in the end, so the audience can leave with a smile- i left with a bad taste in my mouth