3 things to know about this year’s Golden Globes

It always seems like everyone wins and no one really loses at the Golden Globes. 

The event has historically been known as more of a boozy party than a serious awards show, a casual hangout with Hollywood’s most charming celebrities rather than a cutthroat winner-takes-all situation — even if it’s had its fair share of controversy. 

There were no bad Barbie jokes this year, nor were there any corruption scandals. Celebrities drank a little, ate a little, and politely laughed a little at the very few innocuous barbs that host Nikki Glaser threw their way. 

For those counting, films Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist took home the most major award wins. And prestige TV darling Shōgun and comedic category favorite Hacks won big too. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Hollywood’s biggest shindig: 

Nikki Glaser was a great host, especially compared to last year

At the 2024 Golden Globes, comedian Jo Koy bombed in a mystifying way: he made boob jokes about Barbie, launched quips about how many cameras were on Taylor Swift, and got booed during his monologue. Koy severely miscalculated the tone of the night, leaving viewers and celebrities in the audience miffed — to the point where Koy publicly blamed his writers. Yikes! 

For 2025 host Nikki Glaser, there was nowhere to go but up. 

She could have said virtually anything and it still would be seen as an upgrade from Koy’s performance, but the comedian did more than that, expertly ribbing the celebrities at the Beverly Hilton while keeping things light. She teased about the appearance of Timothee Chalamet’s facial hair and Adrien Brody’s penchant for starring in acclaimed Holocaust movies, and told the stars of Wicked that she didn’t know anything about the musical because she had friends in high school. Glaser understood the assignment of being a self-deprecating clown while, at the same time, tastefully punching up. 

She told Variety as much earlier this week, explaining that to prepare for hosting this year she more or less had to learn why Koy bombed so hard. “It taught me the importance of contextualizing yourself to the room as a comedian,” Glaser told the trade publication. “Comedians, we would love to be thought of in the same light as these A-listers, but we just aren’t …I’m going the other way and not assuming anyone knows who I am, and making sure they’re introduced to me before I start making jokes about them.”

The studying paid off and Glaser’s strategy worked. 

Netflix won big

The wall between TV and movies has virtually dissolved as award-winning actors star in more and more shows — it’s now commonplace to see big stars like Eddie Redmayne and Nicole Kidman on the small screen — and more and more streaming services produce feature-length films, including with theatrical releases. 

It makes sense then that the largest streamer of them all, Netflix, would be primed to have a big night at the one awards show that celebrates both mediums. On Sunday night, Netflix took home several major awards. Emilia Pérez won for Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Best Motion Picture Non-English Language, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Zoe Saldana), and Best Original Song (“El Mal”). Despite its regressive premise and concerns from LGBTQ critics, the film is poised to continue its winning streak at the Oscars, where Netflix has yet to take home a Best Picture award. Emilia Pérez could be its hottest contender yet.

On the TV front, Baby Reindeer won Best Television Limited Series, while actress Jessica Gunning snagged the win for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Television Series for the same show.

The Globes have become a very pleasant, maybe forgettable show (this is a compliment!) 

It wasn’t that long ago that the Golden Globes were taken off the air. In 2021, a blockbuster Los Angeles Times investigation found rampant corruption and ethical lapses within the Hollywood Foreign Press Association which ultimately led to NBC dropping the Globes in 2022.

That created an existential crisis for the show, mainly because the Globes exist to be fun, and major scandal and controversy are the absolute opposite of that. Since the show returned in 2023, the question of whether or not the Globes matter at all has hung in the air. 

This year, it seems like the answer to why the Globes exist is clearer than ever: to be an entertaining, unserious party where everyone wants to have a good time. 

The speeches were funny enough, heartwarming at times, and mostly apolitical; the actors and actresses were charming and mostly well-behaved (there was minimal censoring of an occasional F-bomb); and the whole event only ran 15 or so minutes late. Zendaya looked fantastic and sparked engagement rumors, Timothée Chalamet was in attendance with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner.CBS even employed a graphic overlay to show viewers where the nominees were sitting and how close to each other they all were. 

It’s all designed to make you feel like being in the Beverly Hilton on Golden Globes night would be as fun as it looks on TV. 

The fact that the 2025 installment was slightly unremarkable though still fairly entertaining should be considered a significant win, because at the end of the day, having a boring awards show is better than having no show at all!