Last year’s institution of a new, far more serious voting “academy” at the MTV Movie Awards restored a sense of dignity to a night devoted to honoring the year’s cinematic achievements in making a lot of money and having sexy people. This year that dignity lingers, like the piercing shriek of a teenaged girl who saw a person she recognizes: Formerly perennial champion Twilight ends its run with a single nomination—Taylor Lautner for Best Shirtless Performance, an award he seems destined to lose to Magic Mike’s Channing Tatum—after claiming Best Movie at the past four ceremonies. Now who will be recognized as worthy of that esteemed pantheon, when even sexy vampire movies no longer qualify?
Reflecting those more mature sensibilities, it’s a showdown between R-rated fare Django Unchained and Ted (both leading total nominations with seven apiece), with competition from The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and Silver Linings Playbook—all boasting their own merits that will be carefully weighed by teenagers on the Internet. In that sense, Silver Linings Playbook seems to have an advantage, given the affinity whatever generation we’re on now has for Jennifer Lawrence—an affinity so strong, even House At The End Of The Street earned Lawrence one of her five overall nods, for “Best Scared-As-Shit Performance.”
That category, by the way, returns after being scrapped in favor of last year's “Best Gut-Wrenching Performance” and “Best On-Screen Dirtbag,” which are nowhere in sight. Between this and the Twilight snub, it’s almost like MTV chooses these things arbitrarily, based on calculated bids for celebrity attendance and ephemeral trends. But that would be silly, and they’re more serious now.
Movie Of The Year
Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook
Ted
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Best Male Performance
Ben Affleck, Argo
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained
Channing Tatum, Magic Mike
Best Female Performance
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Mila Kunis, Ted
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emma Watson, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect