Vin Diesel sang, Channing Tatum danced and Zac Efron showed off his toned abs yet again as the best shirtless winner for the second year in a row at Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards.
“This is definitely not the Oscars,” said “22 Jump Street” star Jillian Bell as she arrived for MTV’s 24th annual irreverent treatment on Hollywood award shows.
In addition to such cheeky, fan-voted honors as best kiss and best shirtless performance, the awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles also served as an unofficial promotional platform for the upcoming blockbuster season.
Almost at odds with the raunchy spirit of the show, the big winner of the evening was the teen tearjerker “The Fault in Our Stars,” which got the Golden Popcorn statuette for best movie of the year as well as multiple wins for star Shailene Woodley.
Other winners included Bradley Cooper, Channing Tatum and Jennifer Lopez, as well as Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, who were not in attendance.
Woodley, who picked up the award for best female performance in “The Fault in Our Stars” in addition to the Trailblazer Award and best kiss honor (with Ansel Elgort), gave an emotional speech dedicated to the book’s author, John Green.
“He gave this world a beautiful masterpiece,” she said directly to Green, who was seated in the audience. Woodley said that the book changed her life when she read it and that his words will transcend the test of time.
In another poignant moment, Cooper, who won best male performance for portraying the late Chris Kyle in “American Sniper,” thanked the audience for making the film such a big success and bringing attention to the plight of the soldiers.
“Chris Kyle would have turned 41 four days ago. Chris, this is for you,” said Cooper.
But it was hard to be uniformly gracious when categories include other wacky awards like best villain (Streep for “Into the Woods”), and best WTF moment (Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen for “Neighbors”).
Kevin Hart, who was the target of many size-related jokes throughout the night, brought his kids on stage to accept the comedic genius award. “I do it all for them,” he said. “I’m trying to leave a legacy behind.”
Host Amy Schumer set the tone at the outset, poking fun at MTV, Hillary Clinton and even Harrison Ford.
“This is going to be the party of the year. I just hope Harrison Ford doesn’t crash it,” Schumer said, referring to the actor’s recent plane mishap.
In one of the most energetic moments of the show, Robert Downey Jr. brought his fellow Avengers to their knees while accepting the Generation Award.
Cast mates Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner all took the stage to present their co-star with the award, which Downey called “the recognition I so desire.” They then fell to their knees as Downey talked about his memories of the first MTV Movie Awards, and “clawing” his way to the top.
“I partied way too much. I’ve squandered, resisted, repented,” he said, imploring the audience to “dream big, work hard, keep your nose clean.”
But the real focus was on what’s coming up at the multiplex this summer. The Movie Awards’ 2013, host Rebel Wilson, and her “Pitch Perfect” co-stars introduced a new clip from their upcoming sequel.
The team behind “Paper Towns,” an adaptation of John Green’s novel, debuted a new clip as well.
Of course, there was also an agenda behind Downey’s accolade: the promotion of “Ultron.” The “Iron Man” star introduced a new clip from the Marvel blockbuster, which bows May 1.
Even host Schumer had a film to promote: “Trainwreck,” a relationship comedy with Bill Hader from director Judd Apatow that Schumer wrote and stars in.
“Go see my movie ‘Trainwreck,’ I think that’s the biggest lesson we’ve all learned here tonight,” said Schumer as she closed the show.
Complete list of winners at Sunday night’s MTV Movie Awards:
— Movie of the year: “The Fault in Our Stars.”
— Best female performance: Shailene Woodley, “The Fault in Our Stars.”
— Best male performance: Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper.”
— Best scared-as-s— performance: Jennifer Lopez, “The Boy Next Door.”
— Breakthrough performance: Dylan O’Brien, “The Maze Runner.”
— Best shirtless performance: Zac Efron, “Neighbors.”
— Best duo: Zac Efron and Dave Franco, “Neighbors.”
— Best fight: Dylan O’Brien vs. Will Poulter, “The Maze Runner.”
— Best kiss: Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley, “The Fault in Our Stars.”
— WTF moment: Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, “Neighbors.”
— Best villain: Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods.”
— Best musical moment: Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1.”
— Best comedic performance: Channing Tatum, “22 Jump Street.”
— Best on-screen transformation: Elizabeth Banks, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1.”
Announced in advance:
— Trailblazer Award: Shailene Woodley.
— Comedic Genius Award: Kevin Hart.
— Generation Award: Robert Downey Jr.
Entertainment writer Derrik J. Lang also contributed to this report.
