MTV Movie Awards, international show of mystery

By Borys Kit

The MTV Movie Awards are a curious entity, an award show  whose main reasons for existing seems to be keep a dialogue with the MTV generation -- that is, not the generation somewhere between the Nick crowd but not the old fogey thirtysomething crowd.

But, somewhat like recent Oscars broadcasts, it's an awards show that at times seems unsure of what it wants to be.

At one level, it's an excuse for easy promotion: presenters are there because they have a big movie hitting screens in the coming months. Some embraced that idea with gusto last night, like host Mike  Myers, who referenced "The Love Guru" every chance he got, or Will Ferrell, who pimped not only “The Foot Fist Way” but “Step Brothers.” Contrast that with the more stoic and straightforward Ed Norton and Liv Tyler. (For T.L. Stanley's take on the self-promotion and, er, smoky charms of the show, check out
her Gold Rush post.

The winners, and even presenters for that matter, were very young or (for MTV) very old. Ellen Page won for best actress, "Never Back Down" actors won for best fight (Overture's first award ever!) and "Step Up 2: To the Streets" won for best kiss. But almost everything else was about people who began their careers before many in the current MTV generation was even born: Adam Sandler (41), Jack Black (38), Ben Stiller (42), Robert Downey Jr (43), Will Smith (39), Myers (45) and Johnny Depp (45).

(Speaking of Depp, he must have a Dorian Gray-style painting hidden in his closet. The guy looks like he could be in his twenties. He's also an insane phenomenon among people a third his age -- not only did he win two awards (best comedic performance and best villain), he got the loudest and craziest screams, shrieks, and ovations.)
  
But a few things are not in doubt.

The show is entertaining. It's funny, it moves fast, pokes fun at itself and the stars. One of the best bits was a taped bit with Stiller, Black and Downey trying to do a viral video for “Tropic Thunder" (though you could feel a chill run through the crowd when a beat-up Black tied and looking into the camera like a captured soldier just before his head blows up felt a little too close to home).

Mike Myers also creates characters like no other comedian out there. His hosting was hammy, but the Wayne's World reunion a delightful surprise, and the real joy was watching two "portraits" of below the line workers: a craft service lady and an animal trainer. Myers sketched out an entire three dimensional person in their funny, sad, angry, funny, insecure, and oh yeah, funny, glory in a two minutes clip. Makes us want to see "The Love Guru."

Guess this promotional thing does work after all.