Just before he began another medley—this one with Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Seyfried, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Dominic Cooper—the host of Sunday night’s 81st Academy Awards ceremony, Hugh Jackman, announced that “the musical is back, ladies and gentleman.” This was a peculiar assertion coming from the star of Australia, a movie with an awkward musical number that was among 2008’s most memorable commercial disasters. But Jackman, an Aussie native, had already explained away this glaring contradiction during his opening monologue-cum-song with a joke about the Academy preferring to reward cultural diversity. The punchline, lest he sound politically correct, was made at the expense of the entire nation of New Zealand.
 
It is a fool’s game to worry over the logical inconsistencies of the American movie industry, especially on the occasion of what is more or less its annual prom night. Still, as Jackman belted his way through a three-and-half-hour broadcast on Sunday (as always, the show ran longer than scheduled) it was difficult not to trip over Hollywood’s cognitive gaps. Jackman, People’s reigning Sexiest Man Alive and a former host of the Tony Awards, was the first Oscars MC in memory who has no background as a stand-up comedian. His selection last fall was an early warning that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences planned to put on a wholesome face for our deepening recession.