• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 4, 2025

In his opening monologue Sunday night, Oscar host Conan O’Brien mentioned that the f-word was used 479 times in “Anora.”

When he mentioned this total, the Dolby Theatre audience of the most powerful creatives and executives in Hollywood cheered, whooped and applauded.

Later, the writer of the movie’s f-word-laden script, Sean Baker, was awarded with this year’s Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. 

“WTF”? asked anyone who still believes that an over-reliance on f-words represents poor writing.

By contrast, Conan O’Brien’s material represented great comedy writing. In a monologue style honed from years of working on late-night television, he and his writers struck just the right tone with his jokes and bits.

No one suffered any savage takedowns, but nor was the comedy especially tame. It was just creative and right on the money.

“What a year for the movie industry,” Conan said. “Netflix leads all studios with an impressive 18 -- count ’em, 18 -- price increases! And I think they can beat that next year!”

“ ‘A Complete Unknown,’ ‘A Real Pain’ [and] ‘Nosferatu’,” said Conan, listing three of the year’s Best Picture nominees. “These are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet!”

Later, he issued a wife joke that harkened back to the classic “wife” comedy of Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield. 

"Another movie nominated for Best Picture is 'I’m Still Here'," Conan said. " 'I’m Still Here' is about a woman who forges ahead alone after her husband goes missing. When my wife saw it, she called it the feel-good movie of the year!"

If citing these jokes demonstrates anything, it is that comedy like this is better heard than read. But I swear he was very funny!

It was Conan O’Brien’s first time as Oscar host and he and his team nailed it. He returned multiple times throughout the over-long show (isn’t it always?), and each time, he was like a breath of fresh air.

One instance when fresh air was in short supply was when the co-directors of the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature took the stage to make their acceptance speeches.

The film was “No Other Land,” about the displacement of Palestinian settlers by Israeli military personnel in a section of the occupied West Bank.

“No Other Land” was co-directed by a Palestinian and an Israeli. Not surprisingly, given the seriousness of the subject matter, their acceptance speeches were bitter and angry.

Among other things, out came the accusation that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian population of Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas terror massacres committed in Israel in October 2023. The audience in the Dolby Theatre applauded.

For most of the rest of Sunday’s “97th Oscars,” which ran on ABC for three-and-a-half hours, mentions of national and international issues were rare compared with past years.

The telecast had its usual high points and low points. Always of interest are the presenter pairings choreographed by the show’s powers-that-be.

The oddest one may have been the pairing of Andrew Garfield, 41, and Goldie Hawn, 79, to present the Oscars for Animated Feature Film and Animated Short Film. It was a train wreck.

Another pairing was Miley Cyrus and Miles Teller to present the Oscar for Best Sound. Were they really chosen to appear together because their first names are kinda similar? Really?

By contrast, Selena Gomez and Samuel L. Jackson made for a classy pair. They presented the documentary Oscars.

Also classy: Morgan Freeman’s poignant tribute to his friend, Gene Hackman, whose body was discovered just days earlier. Freeman’s tribute, which must have been arranged at the last minute, was deeply moving.

One of the greatest moments of the night was the surprise appearance of Mick Jagger, 81, to present the Oscar for Best Original Song. 

He may have been the most charismatic figure to appear on the Dolby Theatre stage all evening, which is not too surprising, since he has been performing in front of tens of thousands for around 60 years.

One rock star who was missing from the show was Bob Dylan, 81, subject of the biographical movie “A Complete Unknown,” which was nominated for Best Picture.

Conan mentioned him in his opening monologue. “Bob Dylan wanted to be here tonight,” Conan said, “but not that badly!” Again, you had to be there.

Jagger then gave the second Dylan joke of the night. “I’m greatly honored to be invited to give this award for the best original song tonight,” said Jagger.

“And much as I love doing it, I wasn’t the first choice to give this award out. The producers really wanted Bob Dylan to do this. … Bob said, ‘You should find somebody younger.’ I said, 'OK, I’m younger than Bob -- I’ll do it'!" I give Jagger’s Dylan joke a 5.

“A Complete Unknown” was nominated for eight Oscars and won none -- among them, Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor in the role of the young Dylan.

“Anora,” the f-word movie, emerged as the evening’s most honored movie. In addition to Best Original Screenplay, it won for Best Editing, Best Director and Best Picture.

As the movie’s primary driving force, Sean Baker was the recipient of four of the movie’s five Oscars, making him the first person in Oscar history to win four Oscars for the same movie. WTF!