2007 MTV Movie Awards

MTV Movie Awards Preview: Hollywood's Wildest Night

Today's the day.

At 8pm EST tonight, the 2007 MTV Movie Awards will kick off at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.  The event will be hosted by the current queen of comedy, Sarah Silverman, which automatically sets the stage for an edgy show, and it's definitely something people will be talking about afterwards.  Spicing things up even more will be musical performances from the super-hot Rihanna, teaming up with Jay-Z, as well as the sultry, jazzy sound of Amy Winehouse.

This year holds up the tradition that the MTV Movie Awards are known for, being one of the only award shows that honors comedies and action movies.  For proof, look no further than the five films nominated for Best Movie.  Maybe "Little Miss Sunshine" is no surprise, but certainly "Blades of Glory" has to be.  Along with "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the blockbuster juggernaut "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and the ubiqitious "300," it's definitely a mötley crüe of candidates.

The three acting categories are also indicative of their unorthodox nature.  Best Performance makes no distinction between actors and actresses, so Johnny Depp, Will Smith and Gerard Butler have to square off against Keira Knightley, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé Knowles.   The same goes for Best Breakthrough Performance, where Lena Headey, Emily Blunt and Abigail Breslin are competing with Justin Timberlake, Columbus Short and Jaden Smith - making it a rare night where both father and son are nominated for awards.

Then there's the Best Comedic Performance category, pitting perennial favorites like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller against relative newcomers Sacha Baron Cohen and Emily Blunt.  Can the strength of Borat overcome the power of being a "Saturday Night Live" alum, or can the Devil help Blunt outpace all the men and score one for funny women?  If so, the SNL faithful won't be disappointed, because the MTV Generation Award will be going to Mike Myers, who's wrangled quite a few of those golden popcorn buckets with his Austin Powers series.

 



The Movie Awards are also known for their unique and ever-changing categories.   Fun standards like Best Fight and Best Kiss are still around, and the Best Villain race pits Oscar machines and "Ironweed" co-stars Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep against each other.  New this year, however, is the Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet award, which could be a precursor to what the actual box office will bear out this season. 

Of course, this show is never entirely about the awards themselves - the show is about the show.  The staple features of the program are their short spoofs of all the big hit movies that America is talking about, with twist-ups ranging from Jimmy Fallon as Anakin Skywalker to three William Shatners finding a fourth Shatner head in a box during a send-up of "Seven."  This year, though, they've let the audience in on the act, setting up the MTV Movie Spoof Contest that's been going on here for a month.  The winner will receive their award during the live broadcast.

On top of that, there's the onstage Video Wall, a massive array of Yahoo! users that have submitted video of themselves dancing, cheering and even eating popcorn, which will be covering the stage.  Eight lucky Video Wall entrants will be shown live via webcam, and one of them will be chosen at random by Sarah Silverman to present an award themselves.

The presenters for the show also promise to liven things up.  Last year's host Jessica Alba will return, along with a bevy of Hollywood beauties like Jessica Biel, Mandy Moore, Katherine Heigl and Victoria Beckham.  Young up-and-comers like Zac Efron, Shia LaBeouf and Amanda Bynes will be sharing stage time with legends like Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, which is an impromptu "Pulp Fiction" reunion.  The rest of the Fantastic Four, Chris Evans, Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis, will also be on hand, as well as Tyrese Gibson and Chris Tucker.

MTV MOVIE AWARD NOMINEES:

Best Movie:  300; Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Blades of Glory; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Little Miss Sunshine

Best Villain:  Bill Nighy, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Jack Nicholson, The Departed; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Rodrigo Santoro, 300; Tobin Bell, Saw III

Best Performance:  Johnny Depp,  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness; Gerard Butler, 300; Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Jennifer Hudson, DreamGirls; Beyoncé Knowles, DreamGirls

Best Comedic Performance:  Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Will Ferrell, Blades of Glory; Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada; Ben Stiller, Night at the Museum; Adam Sandler, Click

Breakthrough Performance:  Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada; Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness; Justin Timberlake, Alpha Dog; Columbus Short, Stomp the Yard; Lena Headey, 300

Best Fight:  Gerard Butler vs. "The Uber Immortal," 300; Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Jack Black & Hector Jiminez vs. Los Duendes, Nacho Libre; Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris, My Super Ex-Girlfriend; Will Ferrell vs. Jon Heder, Blades of Glory

Best Kiss:  Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel, Little Man; Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks, Invincible; Columbus Short & Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard; Cameron Diaz & Jude Law, The Holiday

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet:  Rush Hour 3; Hairspray;  Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer; Evan Almighty; Transformers; Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

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