Comedy, Music Get Their Due

Awards season can be so serious: Death itself haunts at least a dozen of this year's top contenders. But, thankfully, the Golden Globe Awards offer plenty of comic relief from the surrounding cinematic gloom. For while Oscar is notoriously resistant to comedies and often skeptical about musicals, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which votes for the Globes, sets aside separate categories for comedies and/or musicals. This year, with nominations scheduled to be announced Dec. 13, the HFPA is free to choose from a full-fledged musical like Les Miserables or even an R-rated hit comedy like Ted. And there also are plenty of films that aren't as easily classifiable but have enough music or comedy to merit consideration. Not Fade Away, for example, has plenty of music, since it follows a garage band in the early '60s, but it strikes an entirely different note from the '80s-set Rock of Ages. This year's comic performers range from the gentle eccentrics of Moonrise Kingdom to the self-absorbed, upper-middle-class Angelenos of This Is 40. Time, then, to lighten up and consider the possibilities.