By Chris Cosci

Last year, the producers of the Academy Awards made a huge mistake by ending the show on time. What were they thinking? This year, they got their act together and produced an over-long ceremony that didn't even come close to ending on time, soaring a whopping 45 minutes past the scheduled finishing time.

This year, they pulled out every trick from their magic box of time-wasters. There were a plethora of unnecessary montages, three honorary awards, and the nicest orchestra conductor on the planet, who wouldn't play a single note of music until the winners finished their acceptance speeches - regardless of their speech length.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the awards at all. In fact, there were plenty of moments that were entertaining. There was Woody Allen's surprise appearance. There was the introduction of presenters Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller as "Owen Wilson, who is up for an award this evening, and Ben Stiller, who is not." There was Reese Witherspoon's priceless reaction to husband Ryan Phillipe's joke about her making more money than him.

However, this does not excuse the record-setting length. During the night, there were tributes to movies filmed in New York, documentaries, magic film moments (complete with a simultaneous stage show by Cirque Du Soleil), film scores and actors who have passed away over the last year. Plus, there were three more montages for the three honorary award recipients. Meanwhile, the stock price for No-Doz was skyrocketing.

Somehow, despite the marathon length, the show remained watchable for the most part. It helped that award presenters were provided with material that was actually interesting - probably the rarest of Oscar phenomena.

The most disappointing aspectof the show was the overall taste that attendees displayed in their outfits. Sure, Gwyneth Paltrow should be fined for wearing whatever the heck that was that she called an "outfit." And yes, Jennifer Lopez's hairdresser should never be allowed to handle a hairbrush again. But where were the dresses that looked like water fowl? Where were the transparent tops and extended skirt slits that get people talking? The closest we got this year was Uma Thurman, who, after recently giving birth to her second child, looked more and more like she would fall out of her dress as the night went on.

At least the host was entertaining, right? Is it too late to draft up a petition for the return of Steve Martin? How about Billy Crystal? Heck, I'd be willing to give David Letterman a second chance. He couldn't possibly be that bad twice, could he? It's not that Whoopi was really that bad, but there are only so many times you can kid the audience for not laughing before you should realize that it isn't the audience's fault they're not laughing.

Of course, the real reason for the Academy Awards is to actually give out awards (how's that for a concept?). Although the show did end rather anti-climactically (A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture and Best Director), the greatest attention was paid to winners Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. It's the first time in Oscar history that a black person won Best Actress and only the second time that a black person won Best Actor. The problem is, the attention is being focused on their color, and not their achievement. Saying that these awards were given by the Academy to break down the barriers for black people is insulting to both of them. They didn't win these awards because they're black - they won them because of their good acting.

To conclude, I will offer a few quick reactions to the winners. Why Memento didn't win a single award is beyond me. Bad enough it was denied some worthy nominations, but it lost Best Screenplay to the better-directed-than-scripted Gosford Park. That was a major disappointment. Although, Shrek winning the first Best Animated Feature award and the hysterical short film For the Birds (which was shown before Monsters, Inc. in the theaters) winning Best Animated Short Film were welcome occasions. Overall, it was a fairly unpredictable ceremony, with no total domination by any one film. That's something I wish would happen more often.