Will Dull Speeches Hurt The Chances Of Whitaker and Murphy?

About the only suspense around the Oscars this year is who will win Best Picture and will ANY of the front-runners in the acting categories get the boot? The NYTimes has a piece on how dull it is to hear the same acceptance speech over and over again. I think Forest Whitaker and Eddie Murphy may actually do damage to their Oscar bids. No one likes to see the same people win EVERY award and their speeches have been so dull, voters might just decide to give Peter O'Toole or someone else the nod. Helen Mirren and Jennifer Hudson remain rock solid. As for who will win Best Picture, the NY Daily News points out that "Little Miss Sunshine" has won both SAG and the Producer Guild top award. Sure, they didn't get a director nomination. The last time a movie won Best Picture without being nominated for Best Director, it was another little flick with "Miss" in the title -- "Driving Miss Daisy." Is that telling? No, but it's fun. Remember: every year is different.