It’s definitely been a crazy award season with Spotlight being the presumed Best Picture fave from Telluride until late November or early December, and then The Revenant taking three major Golden Globe awards — Best Picture, Drama, Best Director (Inarritu), Best Actor (DiCaprio) — and then Spotlight bouncing back with the usually predictive Critics Choice award for Best Picture, and now The Big Short blowing everyone’s mind by winning the PGA’s Daryl F. Zanuck award. 

Nobody knows anything, there’s no big favorite, it’s all a big toss-up, salad dressing on the floor.

Hollywood Elsewhere’s theory about why The Big Short won is nothing special, but it’s the first scenario that came to mind. The PGA members didn’t want to hand it to The Revenant because they figured last year’s Birdman win was enough for Inarritu, and they didn’t want to give it to Spotlight because it’s …what, too subtle or not dynamic enough or something? So they figured “fuck it, let’s give it to The Big Short…that’ll shake things up and make us seem more interesting than we are.” 

I honestly don’t think there was anything more to The Big Short winning than that. Two vague negatives translated into a “why not?” positive…that was it. And I’m saying that as a fan of Adam McKay‘s film.  Yes, I found it a little bit wonky and forced-marchy the first time, but the second viewing was the charm.