"The 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards" is as the title already implies the most recent edition of the SAG Awards and we are a bit later basically with every single awards show this season, so no surprise that this took place in early April at a time of the year during which normally the Oscars are already a thing of the past. The reason for this delay is the pandemic of course. And it was also a bit present during this event, but I will get to that later. One thing that can be said already is that this was basically an entirel virtual ceremony. Jason Sudeikis and the gang from his new series felt the closest to hosting the event with his opening sequence and also how they return in the end, but truth is: There is no hoest for the 2021 edition and that's okay. Not one of the key issues I had with this show. Not one of the key criticisms. If you look at the basics, you will find the name of Emmy winner Alan Carter as director. He is really super experienced when it comes to hosting these shows, but honestly if you take a look at his massive body of work (approaching a triple-digit amount of credits), you will find a lot of absolutely horrible stuff, so this is one reason why this was dommed from the start. He already directed the "normal" editions of this even in 2020 and 2019 and actually many, many others as well. His involvement with The Voice and the People's Choice Awards are pretty self-explanatory and those may not even be the worst he has to offer. Things are not looking any better with the two writers here. Matt Roberts, also an Emmy winner, I kinda respect for all the Letterman episodes, but he also did not manage to turn this event here into something classy. Co-writer Beth Sherman has worked on Letterman and Leno too, but what stands out about her body of work are over 500 episodes of Ellen and definitely not for the right reasons. At least she was not part of the show here.
A key reason for me here in not liking this show has to do with how I absolutely do not like it if these events become political. Which they usually do these days. And I don't care which political direction, even if it is always obviously the same. So I don't want to hear people rambling on about health care systems in their acceptance speeches. It's also really disrespectful to those who worked on shows and deserve the mention and inclusion and are left out because politically correct statements need to be made. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that we did not hear such a thing from Mark Ruffalo (I think) this time because he is one of the first to make these statements usually. His win was embarrassing nonetheless. The epitome of quantity over quality really and he is perhaps Hollywood's most overrated actor this time. Oh he plays two characters in one movie. Oh he plas a character linked to mental illness. Let's give him all the awards out there right away. What's maybe even more embarrassing is his fake display of surprise. The glasses were also pretty cringeworthy though after his win. For some reason they combined men and women here and showed both for both categories and also not alll nominees, which seemed pretty random and embarrassing too. Still, I applaud everybody who refused to be a part of this broadcast and did not let cameras into their living rooms that night. On a side note, another embarrassing exclusion is once again that the stunt ensembles are not featured during the broadcast and it's been like that for years, if not decades, and it is highly disrespectful to the branch and I say that as somebody with little to no interest in full-on action movies. So let me give a shoutout to Wonder Woman 1984 and The Mandalorian on this occasions. I should also mention all the nominees actually, but that would take too long. You know where to find them. But that all this got left out in an awards show of under 50 minutes is truly a disgrace. The time was absolutely there.
As for the winners, I cannot say I was too hapy with the outcome here. I guess it was nice that Sudeikis won Best Actor and not the young Levy because the latter is really incredible unlikable to me and so unauthentic. The scenes I saw from his show are not helping either. Actually, they made it easier for me in disliking his dad, so the opposite is the case. Bateman's win I don't mind either. Same for Taylor-Joy, but that one was pretty much 100% sure. On the drama series side, there was more tension in there because Corrin and Anderson have never really competed against each other this awards season, but literally won everything, but here it was the bigger name that triumphed, even if it was more of a supporting performance. More than Corrin's turn at least, but she will be okay with it. I mean it's the same show and she won so much on other occasions. As a consequence, not a big surprise who took home the drama series prize. X-Files fans also probably had a good night. Same for Comedy, even if there it was maybe not 100% clear, but maybe 85% as well. O'Hara I cannot really say a lot about, but I found the presentation where she was called like the godmother of comedy acting a bit embarrassing honestly. There was at least one other moment like that. Oh yes, speaking of the actresses, I was also pretty glad that Laura Linney did not win. She was a massive underdog anyway, but I find her so unwatchable in everything and she literally plays the same struggling, pseudo-deep character in every project she is in. Her little extract from Ozark was cringeworthy enough. I have never seen an actress seem less cool when handling (and firing) a gun to be honest. What a tough lady! Not.
Okay, if we take a look at the full feature film category, which is kinda cringeworthy this year because movie theaters have been closed for months actually, so it's also all pretty much streaming service etc. (or nobody has seen it), there are some interesting results. Lead actress is wide open again. Carey Mulligan could have been a fairly safe shot at Oscar glory had she won the SAG Award and it seems they do not want to give a third to Frances McDormand or at least not this quickly. Instead it was Viola Davis who won. Maybe the worst moment of the night honestly. In fact, the moment where I decided I cannot give this event four stars out of ten, but only two. Viola is even more overrated than Linney honestly. I find her unwatchable most of the time. That was not the only cringeworthy moment she had that night. Whoever thought that her serious face was the right choice to introduce this year's fallen should be fired immediately. I found it very disrespectful towards the deceased that they picked her and not an actually talented actress. Maybe it had something to do with Boseman in her movie, no clue. The latter won of course too and I cannot say something too negative there. He was a talented actor and even if his awards season sweep surely has a lot to do with his death, I don't mind him winning the Oscar. I just wish his wife could be a little more authentic during these acceptances and acceptance speeches. Interestingly enough, no Caucasian actor won one of the four film categories. Three Black wins (I guess Jada and Spike cannot cry this time) and one Asian win. The latter was also a bit of a backlash for Bakalova and she may have a hard time at the Oscars too. We'll see about that. A bit surprising that she is still the frontrunner despite losing at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards now. It's surely between her and the Asian winner we had here with the SAG. Gotta mention Helena Zengel as well as she is so young and from my country. Looks like she has a bright future ahead of her, even if she missed out on the Oscar nomination despite all these precursors.
"The Trial of the Chicago 7" won the big prize by the way, not too much to say about that film. But Sacha Baron Cohen scored a nomination for his acting there as well. He "only" had one nomination this time in contrast to Boseman and the category where the two did not win was Supporting Actor. Kaluuya is safely heading towards Oscar glory there as well and basically winning everything. Certainly a big rise for him with the Get Out nomination not too long ago for lead acting and not basically a safe Oscar in the supporting category. I am very critical about him and his win still. He plays a Black Panthers leader apparently and I find it absolutely inappropriate when he talks about this man's great heritage. It needs to be said that the Black Panthers are/were a highly radical and racist organisation who are responsible directly and indirectly for the loss of so many lives and there absolutely not the slightest necessity to praise anybody linked to this group only because it's the politically correct thing to do to support Black people. Which I agree with by the way. I don't think anybody should be discriminated against because of their (lack of) color or ethnicity, but the Black Panthers have done so for a long, long time and people should think twice before showing their support for this armed terrorist group. Alrightey, that is it basically. I already said that there were just too many negative aspects here and I still think it's true after reviewing this title. It's a massive thumbs-down for me here. No hesitation and I hope they can get new people behind the camera for 2022 when this event hopefully takes place in a more regular way once again. Finally, it's once again not the year for Glenn Close, but that is maybe a good thing instead of her winning an Oscar for an Amy Adams movie that has literally be torn apart by critics. She won't stand a chance at the Oscars either. The only really good thing about the SAG Awards 2021 is that this ran for an hour only and that already includes commercials. Definitely stay away. Rita Moreno and Helen Mirren may have been a bit entertaining, but no clue why they were there. Same for Common and a handful others that simply did not belong there. RIP Yaphet Kotto though.
A key reason for me here in not liking this show has to do with how I absolutely do not like it if these events become political. Which they usually do these days. And I don't care which political direction, even if it is always obviously the same. So I don't want to hear people rambling on about health care systems in their acceptance speeches. It's also really disrespectful to those who worked on shows and deserve the mention and inclusion and are left out because politically correct statements need to be made. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that we did not hear such a thing from Mark Ruffalo (I think) this time because he is one of the first to make these statements usually. His win was embarrassing nonetheless. The epitome of quantity over quality really and he is perhaps Hollywood's most overrated actor this time. Oh he plays two characters in one movie. Oh he plas a character linked to mental illness. Let's give him all the awards out there right away. What's maybe even more embarrassing is his fake display of surprise. The glasses were also pretty cringeworthy though after his win. For some reason they combined men and women here and showed both for both categories and also not alll nominees, which seemed pretty random and embarrassing too. Still, I applaud everybody who refused to be a part of this broadcast and did not let cameras into their living rooms that night. On a side note, another embarrassing exclusion is once again that the stunt ensembles are not featured during the broadcast and it's been like that for years, if not decades, and it is highly disrespectful to the branch and I say that as somebody with little to no interest in full-on action movies. So let me give a shoutout to Wonder Woman 1984 and The Mandalorian on this occasions. I should also mention all the nominees actually, but that would take too long. You know where to find them. But that all this got left out in an awards show of under 50 minutes is truly a disgrace. The time was absolutely there.
As for the winners, I cannot say I was too hapy with the outcome here. I guess it was nice that Sudeikis won Best Actor and not the young Levy because the latter is really incredible unlikable to me and so unauthentic. The scenes I saw from his show are not helping either. Actually, they made it easier for me in disliking his dad, so the opposite is the case. Bateman's win I don't mind either. Same for Taylor-Joy, but that one was pretty much 100% sure. On the drama series side, there was more tension in there because Corrin and Anderson have never really competed against each other this awards season, but literally won everything, but here it was the bigger name that triumphed, even if it was more of a supporting performance. More than Corrin's turn at least, but she will be okay with it. I mean it's the same show and she won so much on other occasions. As a consequence, not a big surprise who took home the drama series prize. X-Files fans also probably had a good night. Same for Comedy, even if there it was maybe not 100% clear, but maybe 85% as well. O'Hara I cannot really say a lot about, but I found the presentation where she was called like the godmother of comedy acting a bit embarrassing honestly. There was at least one other moment like that. Oh yes, speaking of the actresses, I was also pretty glad that Laura Linney did not win. She was a massive underdog anyway, but I find her so unwatchable in everything and she literally plays the same struggling, pseudo-deep character in every project she is in. Her little extract from Ozark was cringeworthy enough. I have never seen an actress seem less cool when handling (and firing) a gun to be honest. What a tough lady! Not.
Okay, if we take a look at the full feature film category, which is kinda cringeworthy this year because movie theaters have been closed for months actually, so it's also all pretty much streaming service etc. (or nobody has seen it), there are some interesting results. Lead actress is wide open again. Carey Mulligan could have been a fairly safe shot at Oscar glory had she won the SAG Award and it seems they do not want to give a third to Frances McDormand or at least not this quickly. Instead it was Viola Davis who won. Maybe the worst moment of the night honestly. In fact, the moment where I decided I cannot give this event four stars out of ten, but only two. Viola is even more overrated than Linney honestly. I find her unwatchable most of the time. That was not the only cringeworthy moment she had that night. Whoever thought that her serious face was the right choice to introduce this year's fallen should be fired immediately. I found it very disrespectful towards the deceased that they picked her and not an actually talented actress. Maybe it had something to do with Boseman in her movie, no clue. The latter won of course too and I cannot say something too negative there. He was a talented actor and even if his awards season sweep surely has a lot to do with his death, I don't mind him winning the Oscar. I just wish his wife could be a little more authentic during these acceptances and acceptance speeches. Interestingly enough, no Caucasian actor won one of the four film categories. Three Black wins (I guess Jada and Spike cannot cry this time) and one Asian win. The latter was also a bit of a backlash for Bakalova and she may have a hard time at the Oscars too. We'll see about that. A bit surprising that she is still the frontrunner despite losing at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards now. It's surely between her and the Asian winner we had here with the SAG. Gotta mention Helena Zengel as well as she is so young and from my country. Looks like she has a bright future ahead of her, even if she missed out on the Oscar nomination despite all these precursors.
"The Trial of the Chicago 7" won the big prize by the way, not too much to say about that film. But Sacha Baron Cohen scored a nomination for his acting there as well. He "only" had one nomination this time in contrast to Boseman and the category where the two did not win was Supporting Actor. Kaluuya is safely heading towards Oscar glory there as well and basically winning everything. Certainly a big rise for him with the Get Out nomination not too long ago for lead acting and not basically a safe Oscar in the supporting category. I am very critical about him and his win still. He plays a Black Panthers leader apparently and I find it absolutely inappropriate when he talks about this man's great heritage. It needs to be said that the Black Panthers are/were a highly radical and racist organisation who are responsible directly and indirectly for the loss of so many lives and there absolutely not the slightest necessity to praise anybody linked to this group only because it's the politically correct thing to do to support Black people. Which I agree with by the way. I don't think anybody should be discriminated against because of their (lack of) color or ethnicity, but the Black Panthers have done so for a long, long time and people should think twice before showing their support for this armed terrorist group. Alrightey, that is it basically. I already said that there were just too many negative aspects here and I still think it's true after reviewing this title. It's a massive thumbs-down for me here. No hesitation and I hope they can get new people behind the camera for 2022 when this event hopefully takes place in a more regular way once again. Finally, it's once again not the year for Glenn Close, but that is maybe a good thing instead of her winning an Oscar for an Amy Adams movie that has literally be torn apart by critics. She won't stand a chance at the Oscars either. The only really good thing about the SAG Awards 2021 is that this ran for an hour only and that already includes commercials. Definitely stay away. Rita Moreno and Helen Mirren may have been a bit entertaining, but no clue why they were there. Same for Common and a handful others that simply did not belong there. RIP Yaphet Kotto though.
