Sunday's 72nd annual academy awards was a "beautiful" one, especially for this year's Best Picture, American Beauty. The film, a black comedy of the American suburbs was the heavy favorite leading into the ceremony and won 5 Oscars.

American Beauty also triumphed with Britain's Sam Mendes as Best Director and Kevin Spacey as Best Actor. Although this was Mendes' first-time as a film director, he had worked with Spacey in 1998 to re-make "The Iceman Cometh" at London's Almeida Theater and was the director of "The Blue Room" with Nicole Kidman in New York.

Another film debutante to take home the statuette was Hilary Swank, who won Best Actress for Boys Don't Cry. Her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a woman who was raped and murdered after masquerading as a man in 1993, was the talk of Tinsletown for months.

Seasoned actor Michael Caine won Best Supporting Actor, his second since 1987, for his role as the ether-addicted abortionist in The Cider House Rules.

The movie also won Best Adapted Screenplay for John Irving's take on his own novel of the same title. Despite the win, Irving has sworn not to quit his "day-job" -- writing best-selling novels. Hollywood royalty Angelina Jolie (daughter of Oscar-winner Jon Voight) won Best Supporting Actress for her role as a mental patient in Girl, Interrupted.

Spain's Pedro Almodovar won Best Foregin Film for All About My Mother, beating out France's Est-Ouest.

Despite the pre-Oscar controversies -- missing ballots, stolen statuettes, retrieved statuettes, "leaked" reports by the Wall Street Journal -- the awards show at the Shrine Auditorium was almost flawless for the 1 billion viewers world-wide.

The biggest surprise on the big night was perhaps the scenes from the audience. South Park's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker came dressed as Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez. Smiling through all of this was scrap-metal collector Willie Fulgear, who found 52 of the missing 55 Oscars in the trash. At one point, he had more Oscars in his possession than anyone in the Shrine.