Oscars 2023 opening: Jimmy Kimmel references Will Smith, others

Without knowing too many specifics about the Oscars 2023 opening, there were a few expectations we had going into it. We were sure that it was going to be big, broad, and a little bit silly. We were also sure that Jimmy Kimmel was going to reference Will Smith and “the slap.”

First things first, though, we should point out that Kimmel “parachuted” himself down in a tribute to Top Gun: Maverick, one of the few super-commercial movies nominated in a major category. From there, we had a chance to see the opening monologue — really, the thing that we were most excited to see. He told a few jokes about Nicole Kidman’s AMC commercial, Steven Spielberg, Seth Rogen, James Cameron, and a number of other topics.

We’re not going to lie here — there were some jokes that bombed big-time. The crowd did not appreciate his dig at Babylon losing a ton of money, and some of the jokes about Michelle Williams fell fairly flat.

Surprisingly, Kimmel never said the words “Will Smith” — but he didn’t have to. Close to the end of his monologue, he joked that if someone commits an act of violence, they would then crown them Best Actor and have to deliver a 19-minute speech. Some of this was funny, and we’ll admit that it was nice that it didn’t start with some of these jokes right away. He eased into them, which made it feel a lot more natural than it would have otherwise been.

In the end, we’d say that Kimmel’s monologue was solid, if unspectacular — but sometimes, that’s better than something cringe-inducing or completely out-of-touch with most of the viewing public. If nothing else, at least we had laughs before the start of the awards being handed out.

Related – Check out all of the people who are poised to present at the Oscars this year

What did you think about the opening to the 2023 Oscars from start to finish?

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