No Need To Be Dramatic, It's Time To Have A Laugh

While the Academy rarely favors funny, the Globes’ comedy/musical category considers a lighter pool of contenders — from big kahuna La La Land to movies as varied as Deadpool and Florence Foster Jenkins 

- Scott Feinberg

Are you a filmmaker with a comedy who’s looking for some awards love? Then be thankful that the Golden Globes exist.

Comedy always has been something of an unwelcome guest at the Oscars. With rare exceptions, it’s mostly overlooked. But it’s quite another story at the Globes, since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the group of 85 L.A.-based journalists for international publications whose votes determine Globe nominees and winners, separates dramas from musicals or comedies.

The Academy doesn’t do that, of course. Because it long has had a preference for “serious” films, most of the loudest Oscar buzz generally centers on movies that also show up in the Globes’ drama categories.

This year is no exception: The vast majority of heavy-hitting Oscar hopefuls also will be vying for noms in the Globes’ drama categories. Among them: A24’s Moonlight, Roadside Attractions/Amazon’s Manchester by the Sea, CBS Films’ Hell or High Water, Focus Features’ Loving, Fox’s Hidden Figures, Fox Searchlight pair The Birth of a Nation and Jackie, Lionsgate’s Hacksaw Ridge, Paramount twosome Arrival and Fences, Warner’s Sully and The Weinstein Co.’s Lion.