This past Sunday, March 2, the annually prestigious and frequently overlong telecast of the Academy Awards returned. Taking over the hosting reins this year, after Seth MacFarlane’s controversial 2013 telecast, was the much more agreeable television host, Ellen DeGeneres. It seemed like DeGeneres was brought back this year (she previously hosted in 2007) to be nice in the room and not get Hollywood too riled up. Many were happy with the Academy’s decisions this time around as well, receiving little backlash for their choices. Unfortunately, as the story goes for most every year, the Academy Awards ran for far too long (this one breezing in at close to 4 hours) and proved not all that funny.

DeGeneres began the evening sticking to the usual script of the Oscars and performed her monologue. It wasn’t awful, but also wasn’t in the least bit memorable. After that, DeGeneres’s plan seemed to consist of drifting throughout the crowd and naturally letting the hilarity ensue. No such hilarity occurred. For much of the night, she would be seen trying to pull off numerous different improvised bits with the stars, substituting actual humor for the millions of people watching at home in place of camaraderie and good feelings with the audience. Her bits were lazy and dragged on multiple occasions, with some of them only being saved by the willingness of the stars to jump into her ideas and play along. Of course, DeGeneres can’t be entirely blamed for the subpar quality of the show as no one really knows how much power she had backstage, but, she did accept the job, and with it, the regulations that tend to follow. Such guidelines usually include having to satisfy the wishes and feelings of Hollywood, which in turn, leads to the foregoing of much worthwhile comedy.

Thankfully, if one is a fan of movies, and especially of the ones that did well Sunday night, there was much to enjoy. Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity came away with 7 wins (the most of the night) as it dominated the technical categories and gave Cuaron two Oscars for co-editing and for best director. 12 Years a Slave and Dallas Buyers Club both shared second as they each took home 3 Oscars. Matthew McConaughey won best actor for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, an award that he deserved while also seeming like a way to recognize his impressive career renaissance over the past 3 years. The remaining 2 Oscars for Dallas Buyers Club went to McConaughey’s costar Jared Leto (who had seemed a lock for best supporting actor for a long while now) and for best makeup and hairstyling, which was remarkably done on a budget of only $250. 12 Years a Slave was named best picture as it proved itself a respectable choice for the Academy while also being an exceptionally revered film. Along with best picture, it came away with best adapted screenplay and a worthy best supporting actress win for Lupita Nyong’o. Also, the best actress win went to Cate Blanchett’s hugely vulnerable and engaging performance from Blue Jasmine. When it came to award surprises, the most striking ones perhaps lay with the film American Hustle, which for months leading up to the telecast seemed pitted in a dead heat with Gravity and 12 Years a Slave for best picture. In American Hustle’s case, it was especially odd as it had 10 Oscar nominations and covered all of the acting categories, yet still came away with nothing.

Altogether, the 2014 Oscars were about the same as they ever were. Its host did not succeed in the way of consistent comedy and what provided most of the entertainment came almost entirely from the winners and their speeches. The ceremony was long and disjointed with sprinklings of awkward and lame improvised bits, but at least they got most of the awards right. And to all those disappointed Leonardo Dicaprio fans out there, well, there’s always next year!