2009 OSCARS BETTING TIPS FOR BEST PICTURE AND BEST DIRECTOR

Betting makes even the crappiest movies immediately exciting, so we'll consult paddypower.com to see where the smart money's at for the 2009 Oscar betting. Movie buffs, beware: betting is dangerous for you because you let your heart get in the way. Remember, in traditional Hollywood fashion, they've already done all the thinking for us.

In the Best Picture category, they're offering 2-7 odds on Slumdog Millionaire, and it's a sound bet. I wasn't sure if Hollywood was really going to go all the way in supporting a foreign film for they're highest honor, but after the complete sweep at the Globes, they've shown that a safe, sentimental, overly Romantic piece of pap in Hindi is still a safe, sentimental, overly Romantic piece of pap.

If there were going to be any film to take its place, it would be Benjamin Button, at 9-2, another SSORPOP, but once again if that were going to happen anywhere, it would have been at the Globes. Slumdog has won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble (their Best Pic), the Producer's Guild award, the Globes, all the major indicators so far. Expect no upset here, bet with the current.

The same goes for the Best Director, with Slumdog's Danny Boyle at 4-11. Though Best Picture and Director have split 4 times in the past 10 years (though only 2 of those times was the Director prize the upset), so it's not out of the question that David Fincher, 4-1, will win for the outstandingly made Benjamin Button. But I made a proclamation the day of the Globes that I will stick to: don't bet against Slumdog. Slumdog Millionaire for both, and that's my final answer.