American Music Awards 2011: Review Revue

Robbie Daw | November 21, 2011 10:36 am

The 2011 American Music Awards went down last night in Los Angeles, and now we’ve posted all the performances, singled out the highlights and zeroed in on some of the quirky outfits from the red carpet. But what exactly did people think of the show itself? The critics’ reactions aren’t pretty, that’s for sure. Read what the Internet at large had to say below, and see if you agree with how much the event got slammed. :: The Washington Post quipped, “The American Music Awards lack the gravitas of the Grammys and the edgy absurdity of the MTV Video Music Awards. They’re your middle of the road, not terribly important, let’s-chuck-this-on-TV-right-before-Thanksgiving awards show. But this year’s ceremony, broadcast from L.A. on Sunday night, managed to deliver a handful of bizarre sights, enough to keep us almost mildly interested while we flipped back and forth between the AMAs and the Walking Dead. Almost.”

:: Newsday was equally unimpressed: “Let’s be real – the American Music Awards is generally a mess. A three-hour hodgepodge meant for only the biggest music lovers (OK, that might not be true), the AMAs last night was fully skippable, though there were some interesting performances.”

:: The New York Post noted that it was “a show that devoted more time to musical performances than handing out awards.”

:: The Daily Mail was mesmerized by the Hoff: “…it wasn’t talent or controversy that stole the show, it was a bizarre performance from David Hasselhoff which saw him strip down to his boxers to close the show.”

:: The Root was mesmerized by nothing: “Occupying the yawn-inducing space between impressive and disastrous, the production, airing live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, was enough to cure any music fan’s insomnia.”

:: HitFix pointed out the following: “Most critics like to rag on the AMAs for good reason since so many performances feel prefabricated. To put it another way, if you created a drinking game where you had to take a shot every time you noticed a singer lip-syncing during the evening, you’d be three sheets to the wind 30 minutes in.”

:: The Prophet Blog thought there was at least one redeeming moment: “Jennifer Lopez proved at tonight’s American Music Awards that she can still slay the stage better than anyone in the game with a six-minute performance that involved stripping, spinning, faux tears, and the most outrageous piece of product placement ever to grace the pop music landscape.”

:: Chart Rigger‘s two cents: “The 2011 American Music Awards wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever sat through. But then again, I downed two glasses of booze beforehand, so you could have flipped on the Soap Opera Network and I probably would have been happy.”

:: Vulture summed the whole show up with this gem: “…given the arbitrariness of the AMAs (nominees are determined by some convoluted radio rubric? Winners are determined by online vote? Katherine Heigl’s sad husband had to explain at one point, and even he didn’t care), most of last night’s focus was on the performances, and man, were they ridiculous.”

Agree with the critics? Think they were way off base? Let us know your thoughts on the show below!