To no one's surprise, Best Picture-winner "American Beauty" took home the most Oscars at the 72nd Academy Awards, inning statuettes for its screenplay and cinematography, as well as for first-time film director Sam Mendes and star, Kevin Spacey. But while the picture and director categories were a virtual lock, nearly every other race was too close to call -- or at least too close for me to call.

If there has ever been a year in which I'd love to have seen the final vote tally, this was it. How many ballots did Spacey win by over the formidable Denzel Washington in that very close Best Actor race? Did Hilary Swank just edge out Annette Bening for Best Actress? After all, Bening won the Screen Actors' Guild award just a few weeks ago, making her the instant front-runner, despite Swank's undeniably transforming performance in "Boys Don't Cry."

Angelina Jolie was a fairly certain win as Best Supporting actress for her role as a mental patient in "Girl, Interrupted,". But the Best Supporting Actor race was wide, wide open. Michael Caine's win wasn't unexpected, but then Tom Cruise, Haley Joel Osment or Michael Clarke Duncan could have just as easily taken home the Oscar without raising any eyebrows. What I wouldn't give to know how close that contest was!

Of course, my curiosity can mostly be attributed to the fact that I made a fool of myself as a pundit, predicting only six winners correctly after batting 77 percent for the last two years. Maybe I wasn't that far off, but I'll never know. Before I got into the crystal ball business, I loved an unpredictable Academy Awards show. Now I despise them for making me look foolish. Oh, well. Maybe next year.

Here are the nominees and the winners of the 72nd Academy Awards. And as embarrassingly inaccurate as they were, my predictions are noted in the nominee column by a bullet...