Popcorn overflows for teen-cool films

Bittersweet movies about teenagers' quests to be cool reigned at the MTV Movie Awards, with high-school comedies Napoleon Dynamite and Mean Girls picking up many of the event's quirky awards.

The awards event - which thumbed its nose at more highbrow awards programmes, with dirty jokes and shameless plugs for Hollywood's upcoming northern summer blockbusters - also featured a 20th-anniversary tribute to the 1985 teen drama The Breakfast Club.

Stars of the Breakfast Club - Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall - were all on hand at the show, held at the weekend, to receive the award of an oversized bucket of silver popcorn.

"It's pretty amazing to do a movie that's lasted for so long," Ringwald said. "I'm really proud."

Hilary Swank introduced the reunion of The Breakfast Club cast, saying the film about students brought together in high-school detention reflected "the good, the bad and the ugly of teenage wasteland".

The night's other big moment was Tom Cruise's acceptance of a lifetime achievement award - presented to him by his new girlfriend, Katie Holmes.

She poked fun at Cruise's Oprah appearance by dropping down on one knee and asking the crowd, "Should I go get him?"

The top award went to Napoleon Dynamite, a low-budget flick about a socially awkward teenager in rural Idaho. The film picked up two other awards, which come in the form of buckets of golden popcorn.

Star Jon Heder received two awards - breakthrough male performance and best musical performance for his awkward talent-show dance moves set to a Jamiroquai song.

"I want to thank Michael Jackson, John Travolta and Justin Timberlake," Heder said in a reference to the inspirations for his dance moves.

Mean Girls, a comedy about a clique of popular but nasty girls, also picked up three awards, including best female performance for its star, Lindsay Lohan.

Lohan, whose Mercedes was hit by a photographer this week after a chase through the streets of Los Angeles, told the audience to "be careful of the paparazzi".

The show also featured its usual dose of irreverence, including a stunt in which host Jimmy Fallon grabbed actress Sandra Bullock's breasts.

Dustin Hoffman, who picked up the award for best comedy performance for his role in Meet the Fockers, also contributed one of the show's racier moments, which he said was inspired by rapper Eminem's performance earlier in the show.

"I noticed Eminem ... he touched himself about 37 times," said Hoffman, who stepped away from the podium and grabbed his crotch between each thank-you in his speech.

Hoffman said he was making an effort to keep in touch with the younger generation.

Best on-screen kiss went to Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling for The Notebook. To accept their award, the pair re-enacted the steamy kiss, with McAdams doing a running jump across the stage into Gosling's arms.

"Do we really need to say anything?" McAdams said after the stunt.

Ben Stiller won best villain for his role as a menacing gym owner in Dodgeball and raised an egg in his hand to demonstrate the evils of high cholesterol. "Take a look at this little fella. He's killed more people than all the Hollywood bad guys combined," Stiller said. "Crush cholesterol now."

Other winners included Leonardo DiCaprio for male performance in The Aviator and Daryl Hannah and Uma Thurman for best fight in Kill Bill Vol 2.

Child actress Dakota Fanning won best frightened performance in Hide and Seek, saying of her trophy, "This is the best popcorn I've ever had." Cruise carried Fanning, his War of the Worlds co-star, on stage as they later presented an award together. "It's part of her contract. I have to carry her everywhere," he said.

The show featured musical performances by both Mariah Carey and the Foo Fighters, who replaced rock band Nine Inch Nails at the last minute after MTV questioned the band's plans to perform in front of an image of President George W. Bush.

- REUTERS