In what has to be said was a fairly uneventful Oscars, there was one clear winner – Anora.

The raunchy drama pretty much swept the board as far as the main awards were concerned, picking up Best Picture and Film Editing, with its star Mikey Madison also winning best Leading Actress, and Sean Baker both Original Screenplay and Best Director.

But is it worthy of such success?

Working in a nightclub In NYC is Ani (Madison). She’s in high demand as a stripper, but her boss also gets her to help out with his many Russian clients, as she understands the language.

This is how she meets 21-year-old Vanya (Mark Evdelshtevn), who is flashing the cash like there’s no tomorrow, with much of it coming Ani’s way.

Vanya becomes pretty smitten with Ani, and wants her to be his girlfriend – for a week – for a more than decent wage, and Ani agrees.

But she isn’t quite prepared for what she’s letting herself in for, as Vanya’s father just so happens to be a seriously rich oligarch, in what turns out to be an unforgettable week, for all concerned.

This is the eighth film that Baker has directed, and by far his most successful – critically and commercially.

And yet it’s a struggle to ascertain why exactly.

There’s certainly a lot of film there, with a runtime of 2 hours and 19 minutes, which is definitely overlong considering the content, which is on the skimpy side.

Once you get past the bumping and grinding shots of young Madison in the club, because of course it takes a while to establish that she is a stripper, you then hit the young love segment. And after that is the consequences of their relationship, that involves his parents, followed by a disappointing resolution. It’s a standard hour thirty flick for sure, and yet Baker rinses it out for all its worth.

One section of the film simply follows the group from one locale to the next, in the hope of finding someone, and it feels as if it was shot in real time, as it drags its heels every direction it goes in.

It wouldn’t be so bad if there was some sparkly dialogue, which there isn’t, which is kind of ironic considered it won Best Original Screenplay. It just goes to show what an average year it was for the Academy.

And the performances are amiable enough, but again nothing outstanding, and as good as Madison is, again it’s difficult to see how Oscar worthy it is exactly.

It has to be said that Baker has done well, considering the film had a paltry budget of only of $6 million, which is outrageously good, and as mentioned, got a whole lot of film for his buck.

Everything about the film is on the surface however, lacking any depth or substance.

There’s just no getting away from the fact that it was made on a shoestring is the only exceptional element of the film, which is by no means bad, but is nothing more than perfectly average, and you can’t imagine it being considered anything but that further down the line, especially when compared to true Oscar classics.