The Best and Worst of Oscars 2018

Here’s a look at the most memorable moments — for better or for worse — at the Oscars on Sunday, starting with Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph stealing the show.

Haddish and Rudolph were by far the funniest presenters of the night, complaining about painful high heels and complimenting each other’s bathroom-emergency scenes in “Girls Trip” and “Bridesmaids.” Other presenters were either forgettably banal or chillingly awkward (sorry, “Star Wars” people), so the duo of Haddish and Rudolph was an even more welcome presence. Could there be a hosting gig in their future?

— MARGARET LYONS

The Oscars are infamous for bloat, so why add to that with onerous gags? Last year, Jimmy Kimmel dragged people who thought they were on a star tour into the Dolby Theater; this year, he interrupted a screening of “A Wrinkle in Time” at a nearby multiplex to have celebrities distribute snacks. It’s not funny, it doesn’t add anything, and when winners’ speeches are cut short to make room for bits like this, one can’t help but wonder why. Kimmel’s monologue was fine, but between this and the done-to-absolute-death “feud” with Matt Damon, he wound up in the red for the night.

— MARGARET LYONS

Even with her mention of an “inclusion rider,” a technical proposal that would make diversity a provision of Hollywood contracts, Frances McDormand delivered a rousing speech, building to the point when she asked every female nominee in the room to stand. They did, and it was easily the most powerful moment of the night.

— MARGARET LYONS

He’s written viral sketch comedy and was a co-writer of a movie with a cute cat named Keanu. Next stop, the Oscars? It felt like a long shot that Jordan Peele might end up onstage at the Dolby Theater on Sunday (even if others in the business were predicting it). And it felt like a stretch that academy members might recognize a horror film when they usually shy away from honoring them.

But there Peele stood, accepting the original screenplay statue for “Get Out.” He wasn’t sure it was possible to get there, either. “I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible,” he told the audience. “I thought no one would ever make this movie, but I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it.”

Boy did they. The film earned more than $255 million worldwide, along with critical raves and industry awards that put it at the center of a cultural moment.

— MEKADO MURPHY

The E! show before the ceremony felt as if it was on the brink of blowing up at a moment’s notice, with a sexual harassment claim against the host, Ryan Seacrest, hanging over the festivities. Seacrest has strongly denied the allegations, and NBCUniversal, the parent company of E!, opted to keep him as host of its red-carpet coverage after an investigation by an independent counsel.

Still, viewers wondered if a celebrity would turn the questions around on Seacrest, or if he would willingly address the accusation. But no such confrontation was broadcast, and his interviews with celebrities stuck to the typical fare of fashion and film. Mary J. Blige, Christopher Plummer, Allison Janney and other Oscar nominees talked to him. But as Us Weekly reported, none of the five women up for best actress stopped by.

— DANIEL VICTOR

In an Academy Awards ceremony centered on an exceptional number of gifted nominees over 40 — many of them women — the standout fashion moment was unquestionably that of Rita Moreno. The 86-year-old actress belongs to a specific elite.

Beyond her gift for collecting statuettes (she is an EGOT — having earned an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony), Moreno is sharp-minded and witty, a longtime dancer nimble enough as an octogenarian to skitter across a stage in front of millions and to do it in heels.

Presenting the Academy Award for best foreign-language film — to the Chilean movie “A Fantastic Woman” — Moreno scored major style points by dressing in a repurposed version of an outfit she wore to collect her own Oscar, for “West Side Story,” in 1962.

The full skirt was made from the weighty brocade cloth typically used for a kimono obi. Before the ceremony, Moreno explained that it had been fashioned for her in Manila. Back then, actresses were expected to provide their own getups for award ceremonies, without the help of stylists.

Somehow, miraculously, 56 years later, the clothes still fit.

— GUY TREBAY

The comedian Haddish, perhaps the brightest light of this awards season, showed up on the red carpet wearing a traditional Eritrean gown, an homage to her late father, and hopped a velvet rope to jump in front of Meryl Streep, whom she curtsied to. But it was Haddish’s decision to wear her white Alexander McQueen dress onstage as a presenter that really popped.

Haddish wore the same frock on the red carpet for “Girls Trip” and onstage as host of “Saturday Night Live.” During that gig, she noted that the gown had cost more than her mortgage and that she would wear it again and again. “I don’t give a dang about no taboo,” she said. Seeing her wear it again to the Oscars only underscored her persona as the down-to-earth funny woman people can’t seem to get enough of.

— CARA BUCKLEY

With new practices in place, it would be hard for the Oscars to repeat last year’s best picture mix-up.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed several changes in January, including that presenters make sure they have the correct envelope before they go onstage, with that fact confirmed by stage managers, too. PwC accountants were forbidden from using social media during the show, in hopes of reducing distractions.

But the biggest change became quickly apparent as Viola Davis presented the award for best supporting actor. The gold, bold type on the envelope, loudly announcing the name of the category, was so unmistakable it could be read clearly on TV. Last year’s envelope was an elegant red, but the lettering on it was rendered in a light, not-easily-readable gold.

— DANIEL VICTOR

Before introducing the award for production design, Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani made one of the night’s most pointed political statements. The two introduced themselves as immigrants — Nyong’o was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya; Nanjiani is from Pakistan — and then made a not-so-subtle appeal on behalf of the so-called Dreamers, who are in the United States under the policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Their future remains in limbo after President Donald Trump moved to end the program.

Nyong’o and Nanjiani, without mentioning the politics of immigration directly, briefly spoke about dreams being the “foundation of Hollywood” and the United States. Nanjiani, who was nominated for best original screenplay for “The Big Sick,” closed by saying, “To all the dreamers out there, we stand with you.”

— SOPAN DEB

Allison Janney brought the house down when her first line upon accepting her supporting actress Oscar for “I, Tonya” was a brash “I did it all by myself.” If she had left it there, it would have been a speech for the ages and probably would have earned her a Jet Ski, referring to the Kimmel’s prize for the shortest speech of the night.

— MARGARET LYONS

The 14th time was the charm.

After repeatedly being nominated for Oscars for cinematography on films like Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun” and Frank Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption,” Roger Deakins finally won his first statue. His work on the sequel “Blade Runner 2049” did the trick for an expansive career dating to the 1970s.

Deakins was lighthearted and reserved in his acceptance speech, joking that he had “better say something or else they’ll give me a Jet Ski.”

— SOPAN DEB

Montage overload. We don’t need montages about how the existence of movies is good; these are the Oscars, so we in the audience have at least a marginal appreciation of the form. High-within-the-low: All the montages were superb! There were just way too many of them.

— MARGARET LYONS

Keala Settle’s commanding performance of “This Is Me,” nominated for best song, should have opened the show. The lyrics (“I’m not scared to be seen/I make no apologies, this is me”) so perfectly sum up what became the themes of the night — diversity, empowerment, inclusion — and it was among the few moments of the nearly four-hour telecast when the audience seemed to come alive. (Davis clapping and singing along became an instant meme.) It was also a song from a movie that was enormously popular with audiences but sneered at by film critics — “The Greatest Showman,” which has collected $165 million, passing “La La Land” to become one of the biggest musicals in box-office history.

— BROOKS BARNES

It’s going to take more than an artsy spoken-word poetry commercial — what was meant to be an empowering message using the words of Denice Frohman — to persuade people that Twitter cares at all about harassment and violence against women. Instead of a hashtag campaign, how about some actual action, folks.

Honestly, the Jet Ski thing was cute. Kimmel had promised it as a prize to the Oscar winner who gave the shortest speech. And seeing costume designer Mark Bridges astride the thing at the end, with Helen Mirren at his side, was a silly and charming conclusion to an otherwise surprisingly dry night.

— MARGARET LYONS