The fuck did the Hangover bring to the table besides being funny? Well-written? Well-shot? Well-acted?
It's hard for a comedy of all things to fit whatever criteria the Oscars use, as bullshit as they may be.
Comedies are actually known as being rather difficult to make well, even if they don't get the respect they deserve for it. Just having a truly funny and well directed comedy is an accomplishment in of itself.
But yeah it is hard for comedies to pass as the Oscar's informal criteria is for all movie to be drama-y.
The are nominating ten movies for best picture this year so actual popular movies can be chosen. They are tired of the MTV Movie Awards getting better ratings.
Yes, the academy awards organization wants better ratings and causally, more popular movies nomited. However the large group who actually does vote for the movies are not so like minded and so I fully expect them to just nominate 5 more artsy drama movies than anything popular.
Actually, the change in how the Academy counts the votes will likely have a far greater effect than the number of nominees, I'd say.