A big winner at the 2016 Academy Awards could be Spotlight, which has nominations in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories. It could also have been nominated in the unofficial category of Best Boston Accents.
If you’re not familiar with the film (really — go see it), it follows a team of Boston Globe reporters investigating allegations of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Spotlight is a Boston film through and through, portraying characters that grew up in the city, its various neighborhoods and an institution woven into the community’s fabric. And if it wins the big award for Best Picture, the victory will be another celebration of what’s become a cinematic art form: Movies set in Boston with lots of actors doing bad (or SUBPAH) Boston accents.
The past year in film had two epic stories set in Boston: Spotlight and the Whitey Bulger biopic, Black Mass. Both movies had actors grappling with the distinct accent of the region, while espousing the virtues of neighborhood and loyalty so important to those who grew up there. It’s a winning formula, one Seth Meyers captures perfectly in a trailer for what is sure to be a wicked smaht, award-winning project: Boston Accent.
Great to see Rachel Dratch in that trailer, as she and Jimmy Fallon took the Boston accent to high AHT as Denise and Pat on Saturday Night Live. Especially when they met NOMAH!
Actually, you may not have to see Spotlight or Black Mass. Nor might you have to bother with The Town, Gone Baby Gone, The Departed (THE DEPAHTED), Mystic River, The Perfect Storm (THE PEHFECT STAHM), or Good Will Hunting. Just watch Meyers’ five-minute ode to movies set in Boston. He pretty much gets it all right. Although the trailer could probably use a bit more Ben Affleck. Or a few awful Boston accents from the likes of Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Jack Nicholson and Julianne Moore.
Of course, you could just wait until the next movie set in Boston hits theaters. There won’t be a long wait. The Finest Hours comes out on Jan. 29., and judging from the trailer, Chris Pine takes on the accent hahd. Affleck’s Live By Night is scheduled to release next year. But will any of those films compare to Meyers’ performance in Boston Accent? No suh! That’s a total rippah.
