Oscars 2022: The 12 Best, Worst And Weirdest Moments From The Ceremony

By our count, this year's Oscars featured a dozen memorable moments... but there's only one we're all still thinking about, now that the credits have rolled.

Yes, Will Smith and Chris Rock's unexpected confrontation on the Dolby Theatre stage ultimately emerged as Sunday night's most buzzed-about moment, after Smith took issue with a joke Rock had made at Jada Pinkett Smith's expense. (More on that here.)

But before and after that stunning exchange took place, the 94th Academy Awards ushered in several other highs and lows, which we've compiled in the list below. And though we expected some moving acceptance speeches during the three-ish-hour broadcast — which we got, thanks to West Side Story's Ariana DeBose and CODA's Troy Kotsur, among others — we were especially entertained by the moments we didn't expect, like Yuh-Jung Youn's endearing lingering during Kotsur's win for Best Supporting Actor.

Funny ladies Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall also tickled us with their turns as hosts (we found Schumer's solo set to be particularly great), while Judi Dench's visit to ABC's red carpet pre-show was simply delightful, as all things Dench tend to be.

As for the worsts? Well, we have some thoughts about the Oscars' weak homage to the James Bond films, while the ceremony's countdown of "cheer-worthy movie moments" felt a tad unjust.

Grade Sunday's broadcast of the Oscars in our poll below, then keep scrolling for our recap of the night's best and worst moments!

Apparently no one told red carpet host Vanessa Hudgens that tick, tick...BOOM! costar Andrew Garfield was up for Best Actor. Not only did she tell fellow Best Actor nominee (and soon-to-be show stealer) Will Smith that she was rooting for him, but that she'd picked him to win on her Oscar ballot.

When Dame Judi Dench held the mic to do a red carpet interview with ABC's Brandon Maxwell, she had him hold her purse... then asked for it back immediately after the Q&A was over. (Maxwell obliged, because you do whatever Dame Judi Dench tells you to do.)

Beyoncé set the bar sky high when she opened this year's ceremony with "Be Alive," the Oscar-nominated song from King Richard, in Compton where the film's subjects are from. The entire set, as well as the performers, were decked out in optic yellow — the signature shade for tennis balls. We were in awe of Queen Bey's incredible attention to detail while honoring the Williams family in her performance, including every singer and dancer rocking Venus' signature braids with white hair beads. Perfection. (Watch it here.)

Amy Schumer's standalone monologue was filled with the best kind of burns: smart, pointed and not too mean. ("Aaron Sorkin, a genius, truly!" she said of the Being the Ricardos director, before adding, "The innovation to make a movie about Lucille Ball without even a moment that's funny!")

With her Best Supporting Actress win for West Side Story, Ariana DeBose became the first openly queer woman of color to take home an Oscar, a milestone that she noted so eloquently in her lovely acceptance speech. "You see an openly queer woman of color, an Afro-Latina, who found her strength in life through art, and that's what I believe we're here to celebrate," DeBose said, quoting her film's song "Somewhere" as she added, "So to anybody who has ever questioned your identity... or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us."

The cherry on this Oscar-flavored sundae, of course, was the proud smile on Rita Moreno, who not only co-starred in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake, but won an Oscar for her own turn as Anita in the original film. Life can be bright in America, folks.

We can't decide what we enjoyed less: the randomness of having sports legends Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White present the James Bond retrospective (the "game-changer" connective tissue was weak), or the shockingly tedious and flat clip reel itself. More like Double No-7, amirite?

Just when you thought the Top 5 Most Cheer Worthy [sic] Movie Moments montage couldn't be less consequential, seemingly besting The Matrix's "bullet time," Dreamgirls' "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," "Avengers, assemble!" and Spider-Man: No Way Home's Peter Parkers was... The Flash entering the speed force in #TheSnyderCut? Talk about injustice.

We love CODA's Troy Kotsur, who became the first male deaf actor to win an Oscar during Sunday's ceremony. We love Minari's Yuh-Jung Youn, who presented the Best Supporting Actor trophy that Kotsur clinched. But there aren't enough heart-eye emojis in the world for how we feel about Kotsur and Youn together. After taking Kotsur's Oscar from him so he could sign his funny, moving acceptance speech, Youn lingered adorably and awkwardly by the actor's side for the duration of his acceptance, seemingly getting more joy out of Kotsur's speech than anyone in the sizable audience. No need to search high and low for next year's Oscar hosts, ABC: We've got 'em right here.

Prompting people to support Ukraine "in any way you are able to" without providing resources is peak slacktivism. (Here, we fixed it.)

On one hand, the new, Oscar-specific verses from Megan Thee Stallion, Becky G and Luis Fonsi put a fresh, electric spin on a song many of us have heard hundreds of times. (Maybe even thousands, depending on the age of your little ones!) On the other, we were excited to see how ABC would stage a live performance of "We Don't Talk About Bruno" in its traditional form, given its elaborate choreography and overlapping verses in Encanto. Instead, we only got to hear one of the song's usual verses, leaving us to forever wonder how falling sand would sound on the Oscar stage. (Watch and grade the performance here.)

A joke Chris Rock told while presenting at Sunday's Oscars didn't sit well with Will Smith — and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star made his feelings known. "Jada, I love ya. GI Jane 2 — can't wait to see it," Rock quipped while presenting Best Documentary Feature, directing his comments at Jada Pinkett Smith, who is bald and who has previously spoken publicly about her hair loss condition, alopecia. Though Will appeared to laugh at the joke at first, Jada rolled her eyes and appeared displeased. Soon after, Will walked up to the stage and took a swing at Rock... then returned to the stage 40 minutes later to collect his trophy for Best Actor.

True, we wouldn't normally dedicate two slides to one person, but the ease with which Amy Schumer lightened the mood after the Smith/Rock fiasco is worthy of a little more praise for one-third of Sunday's hosting trio. "I've been getting out of that Spider-Man costume. Did I miss anything? There's, like, a different vibe in here," Schumer joked, and we all let out the collective breath we didn't realize we'd been holding.