2008 MTV Movie Awards Review

This past Sunday, the 2008 MTV Movie Awards came and went, quite possibly with little hype or hoopla, but that has been their mark of the past. The show takes a back seat to the MTV Video Awards. The premise of the Movie Awards show seems like it's for stars to promote their latest flicks. It's also a time for the movies that weren't recognized at the Oscars to get some nods, and stylish gold popcorn statues. Juno's Ellen Page was one of the few Oscar caliber contenders who won an award. Otherwise, awards were given to best kiss, best fight, best "movie so far this summer" and other categories that MTV producers dreamt up. The show was hosted by Mike Meyers and included only brief slapstick and comedy. The intro featured Meyers in a spirited dance-off against young R&B star, Chris Brown. There was no clear winner in this one. Various stars appeared on stage such as Diddy, Mini Me, Lindsay Lohan, Will Smith, and Tom Cruise who presented a Movie achievement award to the Sandman, Adam Sandler. Cruise's speech was humorous as was Sandler's guitar driven performance of "Simply the Best", complete with a video screen of his movie highlights going behind him. There were just two oter musical performances on the show, with the Pussycat Dolls and Coldplay singing their latest hits. While some of the onstage presentations and monologue moments were funny, the show seemed to lack the great movie spoofs its had in the past. In the past summer flicks were parodied such as having Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite in Batman. Or a parody of the Mummy featuring Snoop Dogg, Da Vinci Code with Jimmy Fallon and Andy Dick, etc etc. This year seemed to lack those, with the exception of Ben Stiller's attempt to hook up the Kung Fu Panda and Iron Man for a new movie. There was humor there, but Meyers seemed to deliver very little humor throughout the show. So quite possibly MTV has turned the awards show into a platform for its star presenters to pitch their latest projects in addition to a place to entertain.