So tonight was MTV's semi-prestigious, quasi-just-a-reason-to-gather-celebrities-together Movie Awards. Previously done by great hosts like Jack Black (with Sarah Michelle Gellar), Ben Stiller, a surprisingly funny team of Sean William Scott & Justin Timberlake. Then there's the more forgettable ones hosted by Jimmy Fallon & Kirsten Dunst, Lisa Kudrow and Sarah Jessica Parker. Which brings me to a thought, who thought Lisa Kudrow or Sarah Jessica Parker would make good hosts? I think I watched both shows, but apparently they escaped my memory for one reason or another.

The Host: Jessica Alba

The winners were a mixed bag. On one hand, Hayden Christensen somehow signed a deal with Satan and won "Best Villain" for his lack of portrayal of Darth Vader in "Star Wars Episode III: We Finally Did A Decent Installment of the Series."

On the other hand, Steve Carrell won for Best Comedic Performance for "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." While others such as Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson won for "Wedding Crashers," and the aforementioned movie won for Best Movie as well, thus still making me exclaim that it was only good on the first viewing.

Probably the most awkward moment came when Jim Carrey accepted the "Generation Award" for winning the most Golden Popcorns over the past 15 years. A fitting montage showed clips of all his great roles while keeping "Fun With Dick and Jane" to one scene and "The Majestic" to non-existant. Since Carrey has been basically out of the spotlight for awhile, it was a good reminder of just how many good movies he's been in and how he has changed from being a goofy, one-note jokester to a well-rounded leading man that can take on both comedy and drama. The awkward part came at his acceptance speech where he kept on referring to the beauty of Will Ferrell that were funny, but Ferrell was either so humbled or didn't know WTF was going on, he just sort of agreed with everything Carrey said while standing off to the side. Carrey then made a few jokes then exclaimed how he's had a feeling he's not alone and the moonmen were proof of that. Then walked offstage with the angels. It's not that I didn't get the joke that Jim Carrey was pretending to be some God-like being, but it didn't seem like it was tongue-in-cheek or deadpanning. In a sense, it didn't seem like Jim Carrey. There was no wink and a smile to let us know that he was just messing around, just kind words to Will Ferrell then a born-again Christian-like acceptance speech. Then again, he did the same type of thing when he was dressed like a hippy and won the award therefore exclaiming that the Movie Awards "needed more Foghat."

The performances

Surprisingly, the performances were quite strong this year. Compared to years past where there's always been the usual ho-hum failure like Yellowcard's bland cover of "Don't You Forget About Me" last year, Pink's "Feel Good Time" in 2003, Kelly Osbourne's "exclusive debut performance" of "Papa Don't Preach" in 2002 and on and on (for those wondering how I recall Pink and Kelly Osbourne, I had to look it up.)

When I think Christina Aguilera performing, I think lots of showboating and unnecessary ad-libbing over either a bland slow track or a bland midtempo song. This was not the case. Debuting her new single, I don't remember what it's name is but it's something like "Ain't Nobody Like My Man." It was a fast song that sounded like an oldies station crashed into a drum machine. Still not something I would go out of my way to listen to, but it had next-to-no ad-libbing and the performance in itself was interesting enough to keep my attention.

I don't want to say it was the best performance of the night because they are quickly becoming a favorite of mine, but Gnarls Barkley was visually one of the most entertaining. Keeping tradition of always having a theme for their performance (Bath robes, The Wizard of Oz characters, etc.), they were all clad in "Star Wars" costumes even with Chewbacca on the drums.

Cee-Lo Vader and a Stormtrooper who may not be able to shoot the broad side of a barn, but can play a good bass.

DJ Danger One-Kanobi and proof that Les Paul guitars transcend all time and space to galazies far, far away. Though they may not have had a whole lot of energy. You have Chewy on drums, Stormtroopers on rhythm section, Boba Fett on keyboards, Tie-fighter pilots on back-up vocals and Imperial forces on strings. It's enough to make any fan mark out.

Though Gnarls Barkley was just being funny and ironic with their costumes, AFI was serious. Super serious. No smiles, just left-over styles from the Marilyn Manson minus the whole hard rock thing and creepy-intriguing-ambiguous thing. The only thing funny about this performance is the fact that the band dresses like this and keeps the most serious face possible. But appearance aside, they put on a good performance of "Miss Murder" and sounded pretty close to they way they do on the recording. Kudos.

Let's not kid ourselves, the MTV Movie Awards hold as much credibility as, let's say, the BET Awards. Yea, it's nice to see alot celebrities together having fun, but no one is arguing years down the road that Parker Posey's performance in "Scream 3" was far more deserving to win Best Comedic Performance than Adam Sandler's in "Big Daddy" (For the record that was a joke). It's just an excuse to see parodies that take more risks than the Oscars and an awards show where Samuel L. Jackson can guarantee that "Snakes On A Plane" will win Best Picture next year and could actually be serious about it.

Previous MTV Movie Award Winners That We've Already Forgotten:

2004

Breakthough Male - Shawn Ashmore - "X2" (His career has skyrocketed ever since.)

2003

Breakthrough Female - Jennifer Garner "Daredevil" (Will people really consider this her breakthrough performance?)

2002

Best Action Sequence - The Attack Scene "Pearl Harbor"

Best Cameo - Snoop Dogg "Training Day"

2001

Best Music Moment - Piper Perabo "Coyote Ugly"

Breakthrough Male - Sean Patrick Thomas "Save The Last Dance"

2000

Best Action Sequence - The Pod Race "Star Wars: Episode One"

Best Male Lead - Keanu Reeves "The Matrix" (Really? He was the best?)

1999

Breakthrough Performance - Katie Holmes "Disturbing Behavior" (Clearly, her role in the film shot her into the stratosphere of fame. I can say that I didn't even remember this movie until I read this on IMDB.)

1998

Best New Filmmaker - Peter Catteneo "The Full Monty" (Good movie, he went nowhere.)

Best Action Sequence - Speed Boat Chase "Face/Off" (Only if it got the award for worst stunt doubles.)