Wide open Oscar race highlights range of favorites

LOS ANGELES, Feb 12 (Reuters) Hollywood award watchers today picked comedy ''Little Miss Sunshine'' and thriller ''The Departed'' as clear Oscar front-runners, but cautioned several races remained wide open two weeks ahead of the world's top film awards.

''I think you'll see a very split up year. I see no film with more than three awards, and the winners are going to be all over the place,'' said David Poland, who runs the Movie City News Web site at moviecitynews.com.

In the past month, several professional guilds representing producers, actors, directors and writers presented their awards, and several themes emerged in the Oscar sweepstakes.

Oscar ballots are due at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Feb 20. With several open races, including the coveted best film prize, award watchers said the Feb 25 Oscar telecast could be one of the most exciting in years.

Independently made ''Little Miss Sunshine'' has momentum in the best film race after being named the top movie by the Producers Guild of America, best ensemble cast by the Screen Actors Guild, and best original screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.

Martin Scorsese's crime thriller ''The Departed'' also boasts a strong chance since Scorsese claimed the best director award from the Directors Guild of America and William Monahan earned best adapted screenplay from the Writers Guild.

Oscar watchers cautioned, however, to not discount drama ''Babel'' with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.

SHOW ME THE OSCAR While ''Babel'' lost several guild awards to ''Sunshine'' and ''Departed,'' it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like ''Sunshine'' and violent crime movies like ''Departed.'' ''It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support,'' said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, ''But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention.'' The other two best film nominees, ''The Queen,'' about the British royal family, ''Letters from Iwo Jima,'' director Clint Eastwood's Japanese war drama, enjoy die-hard followings.

Yet the experts think ''The Queen'' is too small in terms of its story and production -- not too mention too British -- to win the top Oscar, and the thinking is Eastwood had his day with past winners ''Unforgiven'' and ''Million Dollar Baby.'' Meanwhile, Helen Mirren, playing Queen Elizabeth II in ''The Queen,'' Jennifer Hudson as a struggling singer in ''Dreamgirls,'' and Scorsese for ''Departed'' appear to be have a lock on best actress, supporting actress and director, respectively.

''Will this be Scorsese's year? 'Yes.' I can say with confidence, 'yes,''' said veteran critic and movie blogger Emanuel Levy of emanuellevy.com. About Mirren, he added: ''if she doesn't win, I'll go to jail.'' Forest Whitaker, playing dictator Idi Amin in ''The Last King of Scotland,'' and Eddie Murphy as a drug-abusing soul singer in ''Dreamgirls'' are front-runners for best actor and supporting actor.

But they shouldn't clear a space on their mantels just yet.

Several Oscar watchers said Peter O'Toole, who portrays an older man in love with a younger woman in ''Venus,'' has been making the Oscar party rounds in Hollywood to challenge Whitaker.

There also is talk that veteran Alan Arkin, playing an acerbic grandfather in ''Sunshine,'' could challenge Murphy.

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