Best Actress: Sandra Bullock
At the beginning of the show, Martin poses the rhetorical question, "Who doesn't love Sandra Bullock?," to which Baldwin replies, "Well, tonight we may find out." We're guessing that, after her award-worthy acceptance speech for playing the determined woman in The Blind Side, no one, the Best Actress losers included, doesn't love Bullock. "Did I really earn this," the first-time nominee begins, "or did I just wear y'all down?" She pays brisk tribute to each of her competitors: "Carey [Mulligan], your grace and your elegance and your beauty and your talent ... makes me sick." She thanks "everyone who's shown [me] kindness when it wasn't fashionable" and even "everyone who's been mean to [me] ... like George Clooney, who threw [me] in a pool." She adds, "I still hold a grudge." It is the 46th Clooney joke, on a night when he might be feeling a bit vulnerable: his movie Up in the Air, once the front runner for Best Picture, goes home awardless.
Turning serious, Bullock dedicates her award to "the moms that take care of the babies and the children, no matter where they come from." In a verklempt moment, she thanks her mother Helga Bullock for pressing artistic discipline and social responsibility on her. "I thank you so much for this opportunity that I share with these extraordinary women and" — acknowledging a kiss she shared with her co-winner at the Critics' Choice Awards — "my lover, Meryl Streep." Comedy, sentiment, an uplifting message and a little joke on the way out — an Oscar-worthy performance in a couple of minutes.