Shirley MacLaine endears herself to critics
Nabbing LAFCA lifetime award, actress entertains
Don’t mess with LOS ANGELES Shirley MacLaine.
That was Jack Black’s leading advice Saturday night at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s annual awards dinner, where he presented MacLaine with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“You do not (mess) with Shirley MacLaine. She will pop your bubble and burn your biscuits,” Black, who starred with the actress in 2011’s Bernie, warned. “And I love her.”
Before a crowd of film critics, the stars of Moonlight, Elle’s Isabelle Huppert and The Lobster’s Colin Farrell, MacLaine accepted her award by comically reading some of her harshest reviews.
Steel Magnolias: “Each of the women talk like they’re reading a bumper sticker.”
Bewitched: “The biggest let- down is Shirley MacLaine as the magical meddling Endora. She doesn’t just phone it in, she refuses to pick up the receiver.”
The Turning Point: “It deserved all the Oscars it won — none.”
Mrs. Winterbourne: “Beware of the hideous musical number in which Shirley and Ricki Lake attempt to sing On the Sunny Side of
the Street.” She paused. “This person was right.”
MacLaine delivered those jabs with trademark frankness, which left onlookers in stitches. But she ended on a serious note: “I just wanted to tell you critics that you are our friends. You navigate us. … You’re our friends who aren’t afraid to say what you really think, and as a result we learn more about how we can be better.”
The fancy but laid-back affair was held at the InterContinental Hotel, with LAFCA president and former USA TODAY movie critic Claudia Puig and Los Angeles
Times critic Justin Chang introducing winners.
Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali grew emotional accepting his best-supporting-actor prize. “I don’t know if I will ever get over just getting an award for loving what you do,” he said. “There are a lot of brothers where I’m from who didn’t have the opportunity to pursue their dreams, and I’m very fortunate. To get to be a part of a film that has such social relevance is a real blessing. Excuse me, sorry,” he said, wiping his eyes.
And for a Hollywood affair, there was surprisingly little talk of Donald Trump. Closing the night, Barry Jenkins, who won best director for Moonlight, also accepted LAFCA’s best-picture prize, with a glancing mention to the incoming administration.
“Of all of the events we’ve been to, this has been the most chill. There wasn’t anybody ranting against ‘Make America’ this or ‘Make America’ that. So I guess we were all just in a really good mood,” he said, to laughter.
“But,” Jenkins continued, “I do want to say that representation does matter.” Jenkins referenced
I Am Not Your Negro, which won best documentary from the gathered critics. The doc, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, uses the powerful work of African-American writer James Baldwin to explore race in America.
Jenkins said a clip from that film, played earlier in the evening, drove the point home.
“In the clip, Baldwin is speaking about the mind of a young black child, and how when you walk through the supermarket you see all these faces. Now it’s 2017 where you’re looking at the television and you see all these faces. And if you do not see your face, it is as though you do not exist.”