When the critics started handing out their year-end prizes a few weeks ago, Sally Hawkins was sweeping up the Best Actress race for her delightful, poignant little tour-de-force in Mike Leigh's lovely "Happy-Go-Lucky". She's starting to lose steam of late, as the awards are now bouncing between Meryl Streep, Melissa Leo, and Anne Hathaway while a lot of the buzz favors Kate Winslet for an overdue Oscar victory with "Revolutionary Road." The Gurus of Gold over at Movie City News still have Hawkins in the race, currently in fifth place behind Streep, Winslet, Hathaway and Kristin Scott Thomas (for "I've Loved You So Long"). I'm not saying that any of these performances aren't worthy of recognition, but I just hope we haven't seen the last of Hawkins' Poppy during this award season. Snubbed by the SAGs, let's hope she at least takes home her Golden Globe. Happily, she's in the comedy category, leaving several of the above-mentioned heavy hitters to duke it out with Angelina in the drama showdown.
