While the term Oscar Bait is problematic — Vulture has a great discussion of that topic — it’s a useful shorthand for the kind of movies we’ll see at the Academy Awards on Sunday: namely, they’re serious, dramatic, and don’t feature explosions. For comedians, it’s a handy catch-all to roll with, and Seth Meyers has done just that in a new sketch for ‘Late Night.’
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“Oscar Bait” collects all the story tropes you might find in an Oscar-nominated movie, but most amusing is a quick montage of cliché shots, from a scene of man’s hand grazing wheat to that Spike Lee dolly-shot trick to long shot of a man playing solitaire (the narrated breakdown of this moment is pretty funny stuff). Honestly, this is sharper than some of the opening material we’ve seen at the Oscars the past few years. Maybe Seth Meyers can host next?
