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Brett Ratner got lucky.
It probably didn't seem that way in November, when he lost his gig producing the Oscars after a casually homophobic comment. But his stupidity saved him from having to perform the delicate dance the Oscars struggle more and more to perform each year.
To wit: Begging the people watching at home to go to the movies more, even as they celebrate films that don't appeal to many of them. It's a difficult task that comes down to finding the slim overlap of good and popular.
Sunday's show was awfully boring, in part because it strived so desperately to be popular when it should have just embraced good.