I don’t often catch “Saturday Night Live” these days. Now that Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Kristen Wiig (the “Terget” lady!) are gone, and I recognize very few of the musical acts, I find little reason to tune in unless there’s a specific host that’s worth watching. Jennifer Lawrence is barely enough to get me to turn on the television when I otherwise would grab a welcome opportunity to pass out. Sadly, Jennifer’s turn on this weekend’s “SNL” was pretty awful considering that this is an actress who has been nominated for not one but two Academy Awards. Perhaps these promo pics that don’t even look like JLaw should have forecasted this viewing disaster well in advance.
As for the appearance itself, Jennifer appears to be the anti-Justin Timberlake when it comes to “SNL.” Whereas Justin does fantastic playing himself for laughs in front of a live audience but cannot act his way out of a hipster-fashioned, fully recyclable paper bag, Jennifer can act her ass off in a dramatic or deadpan sense, but she’s not much for pulling off live comedy. I mean, she’s very likeable and charming during a live interview, but she’s not very skilled at redeeming bad writing material that she has to read from a teleprompter. Here’s her opening monologue, and we’ll discuss below:
JLaw put in the effort, but it falls completely flat, right? I don’t know whose idea it was for her to appear on “SNL” during the last leg of the Oscar race, but I guess the argument could be made that she’s simply promoting Silver Linings Playbook. Yet the writers couldn’t resist mentioning both her recent Globe win and her Oscar nomination, which is already rather risky as an attempt to gather laughs. Then they had to go and have her poke very unfunny fun at her fellow nominees, which makes JLaw look awkward, disrespectful, and rather desperate. I’d call it an Anne Hathaway move, but even Anne did better on “SNL” late last year (although she was given much better material with which to work — her “Homeland” sketch was hilarious). This monologue was a disaster, and I’m sure Harvey Weinstein made a few nasty phone calls in the aftermath.
Here’s Jennifer’s “Hunger Games Press Conference,” which was probably the only one in which she wasn’t plain awful — probably because she could slip back into her Katniss character instead of a terrible “SNL” construct.
Pajiba has posted several more sketches from the evening if you’re curious, but I’ll leave you with “Top Chef Dog,” which was cringeworthy at best. I know JLaw is obsessed with farts, but that doesn’t mean she deserves to be given the line, “I smelled someone’s butthole!” How dreadful.
Photos courtesy of NBC
I like jennifer lawrence but agree her opening was terrible. I was surprised.
I agree 100%. Kind of in bad taste, too.
I agree completely. The whole thing was just awful! The writing, her timing, everything.
She was worse than Daniel Craig.I felt bad because I know she’s talented.
Exactly WHAT is Lawrence talented at? It isn’t acting; she comes across as self centered as she appears in life. Whoever is buying her ‘awards’ needs to spare movie attendees her wooden “roles”.
She’s more funny when unscripted.
Agreed. Though she was very funny in SLP, too. Maybe she can only sell scripted material if it’s good – she can’t convert dross.
I agree.
SNL isn’t what it used to be, been over that show for a long time. Haven’t seen the offending ep, but I take your word for it.
I watched it, really not as bad as being described. It was an obvious joke at each person followed by saying something nice. The writing wasn’t that great though for the rest of the show but Jennifer Lawrence herself was the redeeming part of the show.
Oh come on the opening was funny. It’s SNL for crying out loud and that’s what that show does ; they poke fun at celebrities. JLaw was not disrepectful and if it had been Tina Faye or another commedian doing the same monologue it wouldn’t be an issue. Granted JLaw isn’t a commedian and the rest of her skits were lacking in the funny, I think the openimg was cute. Disrepectful would have been if this was her acceptance speech at The Globes; which I probably would have also laughed at.
I thought it was funny. It’s SNL – not a red carpet interview or promotional interviews for a movie! Plus, she was playing off of on the comments people made regarding her Globes acceptance speech when people erroneously said she put down Merryl Streep. I thought it was clever and worth a few chuckles. Who takes SNL that seriously when they make a ton of d*ck, fart, poop, and sex jokes these days?!
I was impressed with her in SLP, but not really here. I wasn’t paying super close attention, but it did seem like there was a lot of cue card reading.
That second photo of her is very strange!
I like where they tried to go in the photo shoot, although in a couple shots she looks almost unrecognizable, and not in a good way.
I love JLaw, but she plain wasn’t funny. And the material is a big part of that, but she didn’t sell it very well either. The roast part wasn’t personally attacking the other nominees, not really, but it still didn’t come across as funny.
She was fine as Katniss because she just jumped into character. The rest were like a college amateur production, I thought. Just not good – there wasn’t any sense of the characters at all. So much for her not needing preparation and having no method.
It made me sad because I do think this and the Globes snafu will have lost her Oscar votes, especially as she was so defensive on Letterman. The campaign was going amazingly before that, it feels like the wheels just came off, and I really loved SLP.
Oh well. Chastain is a fair bit older, JLaw has a good couple of decades to try again. I’m seeing ZDT this week so if she’s as amazing as people are saying, it’ll still be a good result in that category.
Lawrence does not belong in the same category as Riva, Chastain, Willis and Watts. Noxious creature, always posing for the camera. I thought she brought SLP DOWN.
I just don’t think Jeniffer is very charming in general.
Smart, outspoken, defiant…sure, but charming? Nada.
It shows up in her interviews and live appearances. I’ve found I respect her more or less depending on what she says, but I don’t like her more.
She seems like the type of actress who’s going to have to work consistently because she doesn’t pull off the humor that would give her room to do a project a year/every two years and still have the public adore her.
On Letterman, she was okay but really disrespectful in the end. She just came off sort of childish and almost ornery. (“Just play the damn clip!” ? And didn’t even realize that wasn’t an appropriate thing to say.) I think she gets nervous but I think she’s losing that ‘thing’ that made people like her – which may have been a bit of mystery.
I disagree about Letterman, she was absolutely charming. It was quite obvious that when she said “Play the damn clip!” she was playing off the comedic banter between herself and David Letterman. It was funny; Letterman couldn’t stop laughing.
yeah, I don’t find her that charming either. On letterman I didn’t find her necessarily rude, I jjust think she plays up the country girl next door who tells it like dr. phil shtick a little too heavily. Like calm down and stop playing the part for a minute cause you’re tiring me out.
SNL is terrible these days but come on, lighten up about the opening! It was a good poke at the absurdity of the whole process. I mean a “competition” between a nine year old and an eighty-five year old? How do you campaign that?
I just felt bad for her. I like her a lot and I really wanted to like her on SNL, but it all went wrong. The sketches were just plain not funny, and that’s not entirely her fault. I mean even Weekend Update, which is always a highlight of the show, fell completely flat. Very poor episode, even worse than the disastrous Jeremy Renner one…
The show was not that funny. I think this again makes my point that I have said on several of her threads. They don’t know how to market her. Is she the sweet next door girl or edgy girl that says the tough stuff. SNL didn’t know what to do with her. She doesn’t really have a thing right now. meaning they had to spend the time talking or making fun of others because there was nothing to take from her as a person. The Hunger Game skit was not nice to her co-star. It would have been different if the focus was on her, but then again what can you say funny about Jennifer or her character in the HG. Even her character is not interesting to the point were she could be the focus of a skit.
I hate that everyone does these guest appearances. I also hate that SNL does so many skits with actors that are not good in them. One or two skits is more then enough. As many have noted SNL has not been on its A game in a long time. That is not Jennifer’s fault
I haven’t watched SNL in over 10 years and I watched it religiously growing up in the 80s and 90s. SNL in the 70s were classic too. It stopped being laugh out loud hilarious in the 2000s. I don’t even think Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Kristen Wiig can compare to the older SNL alums back in the show’s heyday (Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Al Franken, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, etc).
I’m not even going to watch those clips. I’ll believe you that the sketches were not funny and I’m not surprised. Those photos of Jennifer Lawrence are awful and Photoshopped to death.
I totally agree on your SNL assessment. I love Tina and Amy but they are much better off SNL then they were on I think it should have ended a while ago.
I agree 100%.
I think even in it’s prime, SNL had lots of mediocre stuff with moments of brilliance intermingled. You never knew what you were going to get but there was just enough good stuff to keep you slogging through the crap, and there has always been a lot of crap.
This opening monologue is classic SNL irreverence. I don’t think she should be held accountable because this is consistent with this venue and a joke about you is their ultimate compliment. It means you are relevant enough for them to notice.
Can she be held accountable for lousy acting?
Forbidden ‘Should I Even Admit This?’ Confession Of The Day: Gilda Radner hasn’t made me laugh, ever. Not once. I’m sorry for something, but I don’t really know what.
Awful pictures.
her rhinoplasty is seriously showing in these pictures and the photoshopping makes her look drag queenish.
Well; I did laugh a lot with her in SNL, but I agree the pics were awfull (like on purpose) and I didn’t find offensive her monologue, I’m sure she called all her fellow nominees in advance, to warned them and apologize. My only complaint is that everyone seemed so unprepared in all the sketches, it was so obvious they were bad reading the teleprompter, at least not Lindsay Lohan’s bad, but bad enough.
The material was bad. Her monologue poor and rushed. With Golden Globes, press for GG and Oscar campaigning, I’m doubt she had a full week of rehearsal in. This is a young–uber talented but still very inexperienced–actress, who to my knowledge has never done anything live but interviews. SNL was hoping she would get by on her chutzpah. I love JL, but that was a stinker and right in the middle of her Oscar campaign. Too bad.
True that! It’s obvious she’s had very little (I think just a play in grade school) to no theater experience, or improv training. If that’s the case I’m surprised she took this gig. I thought without it she would be great since she’s off the cuff funny.
Also, she was booked on SNL before nominations of any awards ceremonies were announced. I guess it should have been expected that she and SLP would be nominated, but you never know.
the show was shi**y and she was painful to see
So glad I missed this.
Comedy is much harder than drama. The timing, the tone, the energy, it’s not for the faint of heart. If she didn’t have the chops, she (her people) should have declined the offer.
I really enjoyed SLP, but it’s not an Oscar worthy role so maybe she knows that too and wasn’t too worried about spoiling her chances.
I love love love Jennifer Lawrence and I don’t even think I’ve seen any of the other nominees’ films except Anne Hathaway’s, but this role wasn’t exactly something she really put herself out of her element in. See ‘Poker House’ which seems to be a role that’s never mentioned but blew me away considering her age and her inexperience. If she wins it’s because it’s a “we owe you one” from her Winter’s Bone nomination.
Why do I have a feeling Jlaw is going to be next Gretchen Mol. Remember, she was going to be HW’s next “it” girl. Where is she now?? and Jlaw is not as refined and beautiful as Gretchen. Granted, she has the nominations but she’s starting to turn people off, just like Anne.
With 3 Hunger Games movies to come? Not a chance in hell. Mol’s situation was beyond bizarre and Lawrence has already had ten times her success.
Mean confession time; after reading on Lainey about how die hard crazy Kristen Stewart fans are already outraged that Lawrence now has two Oscar nods and a Globe win…I kind of want Lawrence to win. The Oscars don’t really matter as we know (come on down Mira Sorvino and Adrien Brody!) so Lawrence’s win could at least provide some online “entertainment”. 😉
How come every time there is an article on jennifer why does kristen have to be mentioned? I like them both but Kristen Stewart has nothing to do with this article. It just seems like a way for a petty person to start drama where there isn’t any. God grow up people.
I thought about this too. I think she is going to peak too soon because she is doing everything NOW. She had the nomination at 20, the big franchise, the critical praise, the love of the fans, the super big thing that, honestly, I don’t think it’s backed-up by her talent. She is really good but a bit overrated because of all the things I said. She should take a break. With a big franchise like THG she shouldn’t be making huge Oscar contender films because being on one means that for about six months people are going to talk about you and you are going to end up being overexposed (like she is). I think it’s too soon for her and people are already getting tired.
At least Anne did it all in a span of 10+ years and began slowly with rom coms so I can appreciate more her effort for being taken seriously since she had to break from the hole she was put in but Jennifer does not really need that. She needs to keep growing as an actress and learning and not telling people she is the best thing out there.
Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t have anything in common with Gretchen Mol though. Lawrence already had multiple films, an Oscar nomination and two successful franchises before meeting Weinstein. She has excellent reviews to back up her work so she doesn’t need to kiss up to him. She wasn’t even magazone covers until she had actually proved herself.
To say she should not do quality films along with popular franchises because she might get nominated and be over-exposed is a head scratcher. If she was only doing franchises people would bitch, if she was only chasing Oscar films also more bitching. You can’t win so do what you like is what I say.
I’m not familiar with Gretchen Mol, can you guys please share more about her ‘bizarre situation’?
I would recommend google because it is some seriously messed up gossip and I cannot do it justice in a post. Short version, Mol was on the cover of Vanity Fair dubbed the “New It Girl!” before she had any (and I mean any) reason to be. No hit movie or show, no awards nomination, nada. Then let’s just say some interesting rumours surfaced about how she got to where she was. Google her name and Harvey Weinstein. The gossip is legendary!
In the late 90’s Gretchen Mol was the it-girl. She was on the covers of prestigious magazines and every press outlet was calling her “the next big thing” even though there were no big roles in her resume to support that. It was all Weinstein’s great PR work. There were rumours (and many people said they knew for sure) that she had to sleep with him in exchange for that promotion and the rumours were nasty (not only because of the fact that he was cheating on his then-wife but mostly because of the awful things Mol allegedly had to do). Nothing came out of that. He found himself a new favourite girl and Gretchen never had her big role. Most people quickly forgot about her and now she appears in Lifetime original movies and as a support in tv series.
Edit: I didn’t see that Mia already answered yor question. Like Mia wrote – you should google it.
I did a quick Google search about Mol and Weinstein – ohhhh! I may have to read more at home later, but my interest is certainly piqued 😉
Thanks guys!
Maybe mol was a bad comparision but when I see young girls receive so much accolades for really 2 roles i think they will burn out in a matter of years. Wasn’t Lohan praised early on too? Unless they are Meryl Streep who lived up to the her hype in the late 70’s. But again Streep never played up her sexuality, never pandered to the press, just pure acting. She’s been in the game for almost 40 years.
I’m sorry but I think in the internet age Jlaw will be a has-been in a matter of 2 years. There will be someone who will replace her. Please enlighten me, but who came out in the 2000’s and still recognized as a force in the industry. Nicole Kidman, can’t get a big-budget film green-lit neither can CZJ’s. Angelina Jolie is the only one I can think of. Maybe Charlize Theron.
Completely agree, though not with the Gretchen Mol’s part.
A better comparison is Ellen Page. Oscar nominee, very likable, in 2 movies a year…was also in X-Men in a supporting role just like J-law was. She’s nowhere to be found nowadays…the highest profile thing she’s had since her Juno days is Inception in 2010.
The thing that’s different from J-Law and Ellen Page is that J-Law has Hunger Games…but Hunger Games then brings up the unfortunate comparisons to harry potter, twilight, chronicles of narnia, star wars, etc.
None of the lead actors have had big, A-list success after the franchises ended.
Emma Watson is doing okay/best but due to her classic english rose beauty. Radclfife had a hit with the Woman in Black (??? is that the title?) but everything else is really meh…
Hayden Christensen is C-List right now and based on what we’ve seen so far…Lautner and Pattinson are going B/C list, while Stewart will be B-list if she makes smart choices like SWATH which uses special effects to reel in the audience.
Even with LOTR with older accomplished actors…viggo mortenson, liv tyler, elijah wood, etc. haven’t done well.
for POTC, both Bloom and Knightley are nobodies at the moment .Knightley keeps making period pieces that make very little at teh box office (not bomb, but make only like 30 million over budget, not including advertising)
Sadly I think J-law has way more exposure than any of the above, as is the case with beloved books turned movies.
I do think J-Law is a much better actress than any I’ve mentioned (slightly, SLIGHTLY better than Ellen Page), but I do think you might need some beauty in hollywood to boost your career (a la Kidman, Berry, Jolie, Theron, etc…that won oscars and had the beauty…though Berry’s become box office poison and Kidman doesn’t have much force anymore and Theron needs some special effects/other draws and Jolie only has action genre pull).
Also, don’t be surprised if Hunger Games 2 doesn’t do as well as Hunger Games 1….
Hunger Games is basically the only big franchies that has a much lower foreign take than domestic (HP, Twilight, LOTR, Pirates, Star Wars, and many others) all have about 70% foreign 30% domestic, but Hunger games is 40% foreign, 60% domestic.
This shows much of the HG success is simply US based hype….
Emma I think the political aspects to Hunger Games resonate very, very differently in a lot of the world to the States. Totalitarianism is not just a dystopian parable for a lot of the world, so might not be a viewing evening’s choice, in the way all the other franchises have been. I’d also argue that Harrison Ford did pretty well from Star Wars, and Pirates hasn’t harmed Keira Knightley’s career either.
Otherwise, I agree that she’s very over-exposed and a backlash is pretty well inevitable. Hopefully she’ll keep making decent indie choices, so she works solidly anyway. And I suppose the money she’ll see from the Hunger Games will mean she is set for life, so can work on what actually appeals from now on, anyway.
All of this is beyond awful. Still, I never did ‘get’ her..she doesn’t appeal me.
I didn’t see the show however I did read the skit and it was writtrn in poor taste. No actress could have pull that off. I think it might have cost her an oscar.
Only if the Oscar people are really, really dumb.
Deciding against rewarding someone over an SNL skit – one she did not write??? Come on.
Nah. She was not winning the Oscar. Either Jessica or Naomi are. They both are just too good.
Riva and Wallis are also excellent; Lawrence? As dull as dirt, trying too hard to be sexy.
Wow, I’m shocked, I thought she was funny in a number of the sketches. Because of her pedigree though, don’t be surprised if the Emmy’s nominate her….
Everyone on the internet is a bunch of hypocrites. When another actors/actress does a poor job on SNL they say it’s because they are terrible at acting but when it comes to “I’m so normal and make fart jokes” JLaw, the problem is the writing.
Please, all the hosts are there when the writing is doen. Even Taylor Swift who is super scripted was able to pull it off with poor writing.
Maybe because people have seen her movies and know she’s a good actress so they know what they are talking about? You sound pressed about Jennifer Lawrence. Bad material is bad material even when the actor/actress pulls it off. SNL has been bad for ages and just needs to be killed of but because people like seeing their favorite actor/actress each week it continues to limp on week after week.
I am not “pressed” about JLaw I just think that it’s unfair. SNL has not been GREAT for decades now but it’s the host responsibility to take the material given and take it up a notch with, at least, good delivery. She did it on SLP so why not SNL? I’ll tell you why: because she has been told multiple times that she is sooooo funny (and she can be) so she thought SNL was going to be an easy task and people would love her just because it’s her and now that there is a lot of criticism people blame the writing.
nah. I like Jennifer but she’s just not natural with live scripted television and the spontaneous comedic timing that accompanies it. Some people who I don’t like, like Gwenyth and Anne H., have done quite well on SNL regardless of crappy material. Doesn’t mean Jennifer isn’t talented, it just means she’s just not good in this particular setting.
hiccup
Not only did Taylor Swift pull off her snl appearence but even Megan Fox did a better job then Jennifer.
Jennifer is overrated. I’ve seen some of her movies and could not understand her appeal at all. Her interviews are even worse. She just trys to hard to be funny and it makes her look dumb. I think after the hunger games are over she will fade away.
As a fan, Jennifer isn’t overrated. She is a wonderful actress, but with all the awards and attention it seems to be going to her head. Her ego is getting big.If she becomes stuck up it will become a turn off. I think Jessica Chastain will take home the gold,though.
Holy crap, that was HORRENDOUS. She was truly awful.
Sadly SNL stopped being funny years ago 🙁
SNL wasnt funny long before she hit puberty.
I hardly ever watch SNL. I just watched the opening monologue clip, though, and I didn’t think it was that bad. I thought she was still endearing and funny.
I did not laugh even once throughout that entire show. It was terrible. The writing was awful. Jennifer was as good as the material she was offered, which truly stank.
I don’t care about JLaw one way or the other, but her SNL appearance was AWFUL. I think she did ok with what she had, but the writing is really terrible these days.
I did love the Lumineers, though. They are so great 🙂
I LOVED Top Dog Chef!
So did I! That skit alone made the show worth watching.
Have to confess I didn’t even know who Jennifer Lawrence was before this week. But having no preconceived notions about her–I thought she was charming on SNL and did a fine job. She looked gorgeous in the “tit pic” skit. The opening monologue was in reference to her “I beat Meryl” quote at the Globes, and I thought it was intended to seem a little awkward? Maybe I’m wrong about that–but I thought it was clever nonetheless.
And again, the Top Dog Chef was just hilarious! IMO, SNL should make Top Dog Chef a reoccurring bit.
So tired of this girl already…
Quite honestly? SNL hasnt got any good writing since Wiig and Maya left. And the only consistently funny actor left is Bill.
Really? I think Vanessa Bayer is adorable and funny, as is Nasim Pedram. Jay Pharoah’s impressions are uncanny, and Bobby Moynihan is funny in most things he’s in. What about Taran Killam? He’s solid.
I think it’s a good cast. Wish they hadn’t lost Abby Elliott. She was FUNNY and could have done a lot.
Buhuhuu big deal, lets hate on girl for no particular reason. I liked her interview with Letterman, it was honest and unscripted. Also, she was OK hardly “disastrous” in SNL, i just watched her parts because rest of it was boring.
I agree.
I found there was nothing wrong with her deliverance on SNL, but I feel like half a world is out to get her because of that Meryl comment (more accurately, because they’ve no sense of humor), and the other half adores her.
I feel the same way. Its ridiculous. Like actors and actresses are saving lives in HW. People lets have internet war because young actress made a joke.
A lot of people (myself included) didn’t get the Meryl Streep joke because they didn’t see “The First Wives Club.” Not getting the joke doesn’t mean that we don’t have a sense of humor.
In terms of SNL, I only watched the clip of the opening monologue and didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t think it was particularly funny but it wasn’t offensive. J. Law’s okay-I think the problem is that she’s been over hyped and people’s expectations are high. With someone like Megan Fox the expectations are low.
@Becki1 – I’m not talking about people who didn’t see the movie. But even if I didn’t get the joke – which I have to say, I didn’t think about it even though I did see the movie – I’d know for sure she wasn’t dissing Meryl and that she was being the excited cute girl she is!
she’s a good actress,she is a good comedic actress too. But she is not good with live skits obviously and you can’t blame that on writing alone. Gwenyth Paltrow and Anne Hathaway, two people that make me cringe, are actually good with live tv and had good comedic timing when they’ve done SNL, despite what little they were given to work with. Some people have it or they don’t and JenL doesn’t.
I thought the top dog chef was funny towards the end with he rand the other guy. The opening was awful! Omg. Her brothers are probably torturing her mercilessly right now. I like her. She is a bit overrated, but I think she’s genuine in her personality. She doesn’t care about awards, girl just wants to act.
I watched the show thinking she would kill it but it was pretty hard to watch. The writing on that show has gotten absolutely terrible on top of the fact that she came across as very stiff and a little awkward during the monologue. It wasn’t funny and it didn’t flow like it should have, but maybe that was due to nerves. I can’t imagine having to perform live like that at such a young age on SNL. BEST thing on that episode was The Lumineers.
have to be honest between the I beat Meryl and now this, I just can’t with this girl. Now I am way over meryl and think she is overrated but Jennifer has the Megan Fox thing going on, just not as bad, but she hasn’t been around long enough or accomplished enough to have the arrogance she is showing.
Sorry this girl is buying her own press and all I am seeing now is a rude and disrespectful girl that things she is bigger then she actually is. Stick around longer then 2 years and we will talk honey!
Over her!!
^This. She’s giving me bad vibes. She’s like KStew only with more talent.
I strongly disagree with your assessment of Jennifer.
It has been pointed out numerous times (and even by Jennifer herself) that the Meryl Streep joke at the Golden Globes was just that – a JOKE! It is a quote from “The First Wives Club”, and I thought it was clever and amusing. I highly doubt that Meryl Streep took any offense whatsoever.
In many interviews Jennifer comes across as very genuine, humble and unaffected by the success she has achieved. There are plenty of actresses out there who display the kind of attitude you’re describing, but I think most people can agree it’s not Jennifer Lawrence.
At any rate, given Jennifer’s two very successful franchises, starring roles in two Best Picture Oscar nominated films, two Best Actress Oscar nominations for herself, a recent Golden Globe win and numerous other accolades and accomplishments – in two years I have no doubt that she will be around to talk to you.
This girl is talented as hell, and has an exceptionally bright future.
Um, wrong.
I thought that opening monologue was the best thing in this entire crappy episode, the writing was so bad and by now most of the cast is new so I didn’t enjoy it but I thought Jennifer did well. I was laughing so hard during the monologue, it was hysterical. Calling it disastrous is having no sense of humor – which I hope isn’t a problem for her Oscar competition.
SNL is terrible now no matter the host. I usually tune in after 12 just to see the Weekend Update and even that was AWFUL this week.
I’m not sure about Jennifer – sometimes she seems genuine but other times it sounds like she’s trying very hard to always “say the right thing” to get the public to like her. Her material here is AWFUL – bad taste and not the funny sort of bad taste. Jessica ChasaintwinningnoOscaronmywatch? How lame.
Same here.
SNL has been HORRIBLE for years, the only exceptions being Kristin Wiig’s characters, Andy Samberg’s short films and (occasionally) Weekend Update.
It is not Jennifer’s fault that this show SUCKED beyond belief. I lay the blame on the writers, mostly, but mainly on Lorne Michaels.
Seriously? This is the crap that gets on the air? What sketches does he reject?
Oh. And the ‘actors’ that are left on the show now (sans Bill Hader) are simply AWFUL. In particular Vanessa Bayer and Keenan Thompson.
Does anyone know the process for writing the monologue? As in, is the host consulted on what they’re going to say?
Oh come on, it was a joke! Sure, she poked fun at her fellow nominees, but at the end of each person mentioned she also complimented their work. Nothing disrespectful was really said, just that they had no hope of beating her. I’m sure they too knew it was all in the name of comedy.
One thing for sure, it showed she’s not desperate to win and Oscar (Hey AnnE) or she would never have taken the risk of her skits offending the academy.
Jennifer wasn’t at her best here, but what was she going to do? Refuse to be on SNL? And have everyone say she’s too good for it? She’s just doing her part….
“but at the end of each person mentioned she also complimented their work.”
Except for Emmanuelle Riva. I wonder why the other nominees got their kind words at the end but not her. Is it because they are known and well liked by an american audience, so she covers her bases and does “nice” with them?
And Riva, being a total unknown for the audience of SNL, wasn’t worth of the kind word?
SNL is a hard gig. It’s “written” but sometimes it written almost day of and there are changes between the dress rehersal and the live show. For alot of film actors, the live part is scary and they get nervous. Remember that there are no retakes on SNL and you can be shaky with the material at best and if you really have no telepromter or cue card experince, it’s harder than it looks. Also Improv is a skill. i can’t tell you how many film actors do not have it. The host definitely had “input’ on the monologue and can have it in the sketches, but my guess is she kind of went along with what was presented to her. People forget she’s only 22, she reads more mature. This episode was simply put one of the worst SNl episodes in recent memory. And the monologue had it been delivered properly would have been better for her, but what it ended up being was a vote for Jessica Chastain…..
she’s giving me juliette Lewis in those photos! the only sketch I caught was “Danielle”, which really did seem like those foreign sex romp flicks that I used to sneak outta bed to catch on Showtime…
Yeahhh. I must say, the whole episode was pretty painful to watch and the dog sketch was just AWFUL and completely out of place. Ever since Tina and Amy left, that show has fallen apart at a rapid pace (they even reportedly got rid of Casey Wilson several years back-who is now comedy gold on “Happy Endings”-because they thought she was “too fat”. (Her response post firing? To say that “Damn right I was too phat. With a PH!” in an interview, drop several sizes-she really didn’t need to-and move on to star on one on tv’s highest rated shows 😀 )
I thought for a while there that Kristen W. could save SNL (the woman is an unbelievable comedian 🙂 ) but after a while it became clear that all of the weight for keeping the show afloat was falling on her shoulders alone (she appeared in almost every sketch for over a year). I don’t blame her at all for leaving but she is certainly missed!
I didn’t mind the tone of the monologue…if only it had been funnier! Lol JLaw did fine with what she was given (the dog sketch is funny if you have a dog, which I do) and the rude waitress skit made me laugh, as did the gossiping girls sketch. JLAw was particularly funny in those 3 sketches. But overall it was a weakly written show. I didn’t think the monologue was in bad taste…I actually thought it didn’t work for JLaw to wrap up each trash-talking with a compliment. I thought they should have just left it mean. Lol I mean, it’s a comedy show, and nobody with half a brain thinks that JLAw actually feels that way about her competition.
Between JLaw and JChas(tain) lol, I’m not sure who I want to win (and I’m thinking they may end up splitting the majority of votes). JLaw was great in SLP playing an unstable woman…and JChas was great in ZD30 playing a weary, obsessed, focused woman. They both were equally great. I haven’t seen the other 3 performances, but Naomi Watts is always solid.
SNL has not been fun in ages…
I had a good laugh at her monologue because she is the weakest link in that list of nominees. So, I took as a joke that she was making fun of her Oscar rivals.
She is in a movie that should had not even been nominated. A good movie, but not worth a nomination…
She wont win the oscar but not because of this horrible performance but because naomi watts will win. She will win because the academy likes to pick the ones who’ve been in the industry forever and who have paid their dues. Jlaw is still kinda a newcomer still.
I’m not sure that’s true. Don’t think she’ll win but not because she doesn’t deserve it, but I definitely don’t think they’re only out to give the reward to the lifers. Octavia Spencer wasn’t a veteran, to say the least.
These are the moments you remember 1) she’s only 23 and 2) what a good script / character / direction can do for an actor, especially a young one. That said, the opening Oscar bit was the best part of a bad show and a seasoned comedian, or even an actor with more natural charm and presence, could have pulled it off.
her eyebrow situation in these pics is terrible.
Haven’t watched it yet. Love her though. I didn’t think her I beat Meryl joke was funny though. At all.
Watched it. Thought it was very funny.
The opening wasn’t so funny but some of the skits were funny. I don’t expect high brow from SNL so I’m not surprised when I hear “butthole”. I thought the dog skits was cute, the Hobbit was kind of cute and waitress skit made me laugh only b/c of JLaw.
Almost every episode of SNL sucks and has for decades. I don’t think that hers was any different than anyone else’s except for *that* skit which was in really poor taste – but again, not the end of the world.
These are odd pictures.
As most others here have already pointed out, the writing for the show was and has been — for ages now — absolutely atrocious. So Jennifer can’t really be blamed for not being able to instill humor into skits and bits that weren’t funny to begin with.
That being said, she didn’t strike me as having a knack for improv, which is actually much more difficult than it looks.
I’m neutral on Jennifer at the moment. I don’t think she’s as great as she’s made out to be, but I don’t think she’s worthy of being blasted, either.
I find it interesting that someone upthread wrote, “People forget she’s only 22[;] she reads more mature.” For real? Unless we’re comparing her to Swifty, I think she comes across in almost every way as a typical 22-year-old. She looks about ten years older, but imo, her demeanor is a dead giveaway of her real age.
I’m not sure how disastrous this will be, but I can’t say I liked what she had to say about the Oscar nominees. Overall, even though the whole show was okay considering how poorly written the skits were. I was at DISH working late on the night that she hosted, so sadly I didn’t get to see her live. I programmed my DISH Hopper DVR to automatically record SNL for me, so I didn’t miss much. I have a couple seasons of SNL on my DVR since it holds about 2000 hours of shows and movies, so it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about space while recording this.
I thought it was obvious the opening digs were jokes, directed at her own implied ego. I also thought she was a great comedic actor. SNL writing is pretty lame these days.
personally, i thought it was funny. i laughed, idk why its such a big deal.
+1
The immediate compliments after the disses made it really awkward. Either do the joke or don’t. I get the impression it was her idea. “I’ll do it, but I want to quickly say something nice so people know I’m kidding.”
EmmaV1 says:
I agree with you somewhat but to say that Keria Knightly, Elijah Wood, Daniel Radcliffe are nobodies?
Keria is still doing movies which gave her great reviews. Elijah Wood is doing indipendent movies and is very versatile in his acting. He is even on the succesful show Wilfred. Daniel has some independent movies coming up and he does broadway. These people are doing well for themeselves and have not faded away if thats what you mean.
I agree that out of the LOTR and POTC, Orlando was overexposed like JL and he is mostly in the news cause of Miranda Kerr.
Jennifer Lawrence is overexposed now but she is a good actress. Like those actors/actresses mentioned.
I love Jennifer Lawrence but agree wholeheartedly with the author. She wasn’t funny, the material was awful and her opening skit did seem disrespectful. In my opinion Jen doesn’t need to do SNL. She has been quoted to say she would hate to be as popularly famous as Kristen Stewart, well guess what doing SNL which only threw fuel to the fire of her recent gaffes places her in that category. Jennifer is a class A actress, she’s a serious actress who’s screen persona is generally serious and thoughtful, strong, determined, down to earth and sensitive which is a breath of fresh air. Her public image at the GG and SNL made her seem cocky maybe even arrogant. We don’t like that image of her. She would be better off taking a page out of Charlize Theron’s and yes even Meryl’s book and remain aloof in terms of the public and not give too much of herself away. If she’s a goof ball in private fine. If she’s got dry irreverent humor fine. But she must take caution and not put so much of herself out there that the publicity engine and public opinion thinks she’s fair game and goes after her like a pack of wolves.