Oscars 2022: Peter Travers on the highs and lows of Hollywood's biggest night

The 94th Academy Awards, to be known from this point on as Will Smith and The Slap Heard Round the World, is now in the history books.

And a historic night it was as things got back to semi-normal at the Dolby Theatre with unmasked stars dressed to thrill.

Here are a few of the highs and lows we’ll be talking about for years.

HIGH:

"Coda," featuring a superb cast of mostly deaf actors, won the best picture prize simply by being the underdog movie it was impossible for anyone to hate.

Was it really the best of the year? Nah. But after years of COVID, Oscar was in the mood to feel good again.

LOW:

The absurd category of the Oscar Fan Favorite vote, organized by the Academy and Twitter, was built to honor "Spider Man: No Way Home," the year’s biggest box-office hit.

Instead that dubious prize (not a real Oscar, thank the cinema gods), went to Zack Snyder’s zombiefest, "Army of the Dead." A scene from "Zack Snyder's Justice League" was the winner of the "Cheer-Worthy" movie moment. It was a populist backfire of epic proportions.

HIGH:

Will Smith wins his first Oscar as best actor for "King Richard," in which he plays Richard Williams, the hard-driving father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams.

LOW:

In the most shocking outburst in Oscar history, Smith stormed on stage to clock presenter Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, relating to a medical condition known as alopecia that results in loss of hair.

"Keep my wife’s name out of your f------ mouth," said Smith, along with other comments that the network replaced with a still image of the Oscars logo.

Though Rock has not filed a police report, the official response from the Academy came swiftly:

The Los Angeles Police Department also issued a statement on the incident. In his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy and his fellow nominees, but the slap left a shocked silence that will long reverberate.

HIGH:

Jessica Chastain presented a living, breathing definition of class in her speech after emerging Oscar victorious in the hotly contested category of best actress. Her performance as the late Tammy Faye Bakker in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," a biopic in which Chastain, who also produced, redeemed the reputation of the disgraced televangelist by showing the humanity the public rarely saw behind the clownish makeup.

LOW:

Most classless moment came when Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who won the best international film Oscar for "Drive My Car," which many critics also thought was the best picture of the year, was played off stage to make way for comic bits and intros from sports presenters Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White who have nothing to do with movies.

HIGH:

Jane Campion, the director of "The Power of the Dog," became the third woman, after Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") and Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland") to break the glass ceiling and win the Oscar for best director.

Campion was the only win for the film that earned the most nominations (12). Three women winners in 94 years of Oscars. You do the math. It’s not pretty.

LOW:

Ari Wegner, who makes cinematography an art form in every frame of "The Power of the Dog," lost her chance to become the first woman to ever win in the camera boys club. She lost to, what else? -- a dude (Greig Fraser, who shot "Dune.")

HIGH:

Best acceptance speech of the night is a tie. Ariana DeBose ("West Side Story") who celebrated her win as best supporting actress as a victory for an Afro Latina and queer woman of color.

Troy Kotsur ("Coda"), the first deaf man to win an acting Oscar, signed his funny and moving remarks while Youn Yuh-jung, last year’s supporting actress winner for "Minari," adorably held his Oscar so he could sign more. Lovely.

LOW:

The desperate attempt by Oscar to win back a popular audience by a display of self loathing. Amy Schumer complained there wasn’t a laugh to be had in "Being the Ricardos," while her cohost Wanda Sykes ranted about how "The Power of the Dog" was too long.

What was too long was the Oscar ceremony itself, running 39 minutes over its allotted three hours. And for what? Forced banter, a pre-taped Beyonce opener, and an "In Memoriam" segment featuring an on-stage choir that blocked the photos of beloved talents we lost this year.

HIGH:

The enthusiasm of new winners -- Billie Eilish and brother Finneas for best song ("No Time to Die") and Questlove picking up the best documentary prize for "Summer of Soul."

And the good sportsmanship of Lady Gaga, foolishly not nominated for "House of Gucci," yet there to present the final prize, for best picture, with a wheelchair-bound Liza Minnelli in a moment of generosity and respect that reflected beautifully on Hollywood’s past and future. Like every Oscar ceremony should.

LOW:

That Oscar 2022 will go down as the year of the Will Smith smackdown and encourage others to punch their way out of an argument.

Better to repeat what Smith said Denzel Washington told him after he slapped Rock. "At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you."

Here’s to Oscar 2023 and a return to our better angels.