Oscar hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco fail to deliver

Well, it’s safe to say the “cool, young, hip, edgy” Oscars didn’t quite turn out as well as producers hoped.

Look, we commend them for taking a risk and tapping two of young Hollywood’s brightest stars — Anne Hathaway and James Franco — to host, but it takes a seasoned entertainer to carry a show as hefty as the Academy Awards.

Hathaway, 28, despite being annoying and forcibly animated, at least attempted to showcase her (iffy) comedic chops, her singing voice and her general wide-eyed reverence about the whole thing.

Franco, 32, on the other hand, was an insouciant snoozefest who may or may not have thought he was too cool for the gig. And yeah, he sort of couldn’t keep his eyes open or speak with conviction, leading people to think he was stoned. He denied it, of course.

But the real malfunction lay in the fact that the producers tried too hard to marry the old with the new.

The hosts fired off crack after crack about texting and Facebook and other “young” things, yet the telecast (rightfully) couldn’t fully commit. This was evidenced by the interludes honoring classic flicks and the appearances by former hosts Alec Baldwin, Billy Crystal and a fond tribute to Bob Hope.

The reaction that Crystal got when he sauntered out was enough to show that sticking with what works would have, well, worked.

Ironically, reports showed some 37.6 million viewers tuned in to watch the show from 8:30-11:30 PM, down 9 percent from last year. In adults 18-49, the Oscars drew an 11.7 rating, down 12 percent from last year.