Opinion: 2014 MTV Movie Awards demonstrates ridiculousness

Kim Dailey
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 14:25:13 +0000
Campus, award show, conan o'brien, grumpy cat, MTV, mtv movie awards

Host Conan O’Brien holds one of the awards as he poses in the press room during the 2014 MTV Movie Awards.
Credit: Courtesy of MCT

“The Biggest One You’ll Ever See” was the tagline for this year’s MTV Movie Awards — but even after I had to search my television guide for the channel number for MTV, I still wasn’t convinced.

The 22nd annual award show, hosted by late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien, aired Sunday on MTV. The awards were located in Los Angeles, and as done in years past, all nominees were voted for by the general public through online surveys done on MTV’s website.

As if categories like Best Kiss and Best Shirtless Performance weren’t enough to demonstrate the ridiculousness of the award show, O’Brien pointed out a special audience member in the front row.

“Oh my God … I’ve been in show business for 20 years and this is the first time I’ve had to perform for a cat,” O’Brien said as the camera cut to a sleeping Grumpy Cat, dressed in Pharrell Williams’ infamous Grammy award show hat. “A human being is performing for a sleeping pet. This is the end of civilization as we know it.”

O’Brien’s opening monologue was filled with jokes pointed at current pop culture, including presenting films like “The Wolf on Wall Street” and “American Hustle” as Vine videos and jabbing at the award show’s categories — joking some would be Best Product Placement and Best Kiss Fight — and even included a musical number performed by O’Brien and “Workaholics” star Adam DeVine about how they were not going to perform a musical number.

Because that’s the joke.

Even “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt couldn’t make the award show any more interesting than it was, drawing out his speech in an unenthusiastic manner.

“It is important that all of you vote because it’s saying that the fate of the galaxy depends on it,” Pratt said on voting for the Movie of the Year award as audience members lightly laughed along. “That is not true. You should vote because it’s fun and not because you’re afraid you will die … You should vote because it’s fun, and if you don’t, I don’t care.”

The winners of the night included Jared Leto for the Best On-Screen Transformation award for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club” and Mila Kunis for the Best Villain award for her role in “Oz the Great and Powerful,” a movie I had completely forgotten about.

This win upset me because Kunis was up against such villains as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan from “Star Trek Into Darkness” and Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of President Snow from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” but then I remembered I was watching the MTV Movie Awards, an award show where voters are in a younger demographic.

Other winners included Jonah Hill for Best Comedic Performance for his role in “The Wolf on Wall Street,” Will Poulter for Breakthrough Performance for his role in “We’re the Millers” and Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence for “Best Male Performance” and “Best Female Performance,” respectively, for their roles in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

After accepting the MTV Generation Award for a career of excellence, recipient Mark Wahlberg laid his true feelings about receiving it in the most colorful way possible.

“I know what this really means,” Wahlberg said, staring down at the golden popcorn statue. “Many people have gotten this award before … Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston. Many others. And you know what they all have in common? None of them were invited back — they’re all f—ing old. This is the ‘You’re too f—ing old to come back’ award.”

Wahlberg went on to thank everyone who had helped him along the way, including his wife, fashion model Rhea Durham.

As “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” won Movie of the Year, even though Oscar-winning films such as “12 Years a Slave” and “American Hustle” were among the nominees. I couldn’t help but feel how old I am from being disgruntled with the winners and how I had outgrown this shoving-culture-down-your-throat award show.