For most of the night, Oscar went with the favorites. George Clooney (Syriana) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener) won in the supporting actor categories; Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) took Best Actor and Actress; Brokeback Mountain was cited for adapted screenplay, Crash for original screenplay; and Brokeback’s Ang Lee for Best Director.
Then, 3 hours 21 minutes into the telethon, Jack Nicholson announced the winner for Best Picture—which had at first been thought to be a lock, then a tight squeeze, for Brokeback. “And the Oscar goes to... Crash.” Those famous eyebrows editorialized surprise, and Nicholson mouthed a “Whoa.” Paul Haggis, the film’s writer-producer-director, geysered from his seat in joyous shock, and revelry exploded among what seemed like half of the 5,000 audience members at the Kodak Theater.
right now Colbert --- last week's Da Colbert Code, called all other four. then for Best Pic: uh... mountain? something mountain? l.. la.. no. can't get it. let's just say: Crash --- I CALLED IT.
Was this a long-shot triumph? Not exactly. The Crash upset simply certified what many football poolers know: bet on the home dog (the underdog playing on its own field). As we’ve been saying in the magazine and online the past few weeks, Los Angeles is the company town of the movie business, and Crash is the ultimate L.A. movie—anyway, the gaudiest freeway funhouse mirror. Besides, this huge ensemble effort employed close to a hundred L.A. actors. As Stewart urged the crowd in his opening monologue, “Raise your hands if you were not in Crash.”
The victory also validated the old rule that the Editing Oscar is the savviest predictor for Best Picture. The theory is that people, even Academy members, don’t know much about the craft of editing—the extent to which the cuts in a film are determined by the script—so they vote for the movie with the most stuff going on. Crash was certainly the busiest film nominated. And the noisiest. Whereas the other four nominees (Brokeback, Capote, Munich and Good Night, and Good Luck.) kept seeking reconciliation within their social and political conflicts, Crash let its arguments bubble over, like an overheated car radiator, into angry confrontations. The movie shouted, and the Academy heard it, over the urgent whispers of the other films.
It also hit plenty of nerves, in its collision of races and classes, and Hollywood loves issue movies that push the hot button. But what about Brokeback? Didn’t that film pioneer man-love in a pup tent? Sure, but homosexuality is just not an issue in Hollywood. The town was gay before gay was cool (that would be the summer of 2003, when Queer Eye for the Straight Guy became a brief TV sensation). Indeed, homosexual roles are prize-winning plums for actors—like Hoffman in Capote —as long as they aren’t gay, or, if they are, don’t admit it. [see gay-male rejection of Brokeback, below]

kottke: I'm surprised Crash won the Best Picture Oscar last night, but Time's Richard Corliss thinks it makes sense, given that the movie was about LA [above]. I really liked Crash when I saw it back in June, so I'm not disappointed. #
also see Gothamist liveblogging the Oscars =
Reading about someone watching the Oscars is just as interesting (if not more) as watching the Oscars. I'm sans TV tonight but have plenty of Internet...whaddya gonna do? #
and Gothamist followup links the next day: How are you feeling today? Revel in how terrible the Oscars were this year by checking out Cinecultist, Out of Focus, filmbrain, The Reeler, Eugene Hernandez, Anthony Kaufman, TV Squad, Movie City News, Dave Poland, Defamer and Hollywood Elsewhere. And here are the winners.