Thankfully, Ashton Kutcher will not go completely unnoticed this awards season, as the Dude costar picked up a (no, we're not making this up) Breakthrough Male Performance nomination for the 2001 MTV Movie Awards.
Now in its 10th year praising the cinematic achievements America is ashamed to admit it watched--let alone halfway enjoyed--MTV viewers on Tuesday handed Best Movie nominations to comic book mutant flick X-Men and the brain-eating sequel Hannibal, as well as some Oscar favorites including martial-arts romance Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Julia Roberts' cleavage-crusading flick Erin Brockovich and Best Picture winner Gladiator.
In the end, MTV's picks weren't all that different from those stuffy Academy Awards. Just like the Oscars, Gladiator leads the list of contenders, receiving five nominations. Ridley Scott's sword-and-sandal film also picked up nods for Best Male Performance (Russell Crowe), Best Villain (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Action Sequence and Best Fight.
Otherwise, the network trotted out its usual batch of teen faves (Bring It On, MTV Films' Save the Last Dance) and token critical darlings (Brockovich, Crouching Tiger) for its annual awards fest--in which who wins the bronzed popcorn trophy is never as important as the party itself.
This year's shindig will be hosted by Bring It On babe Kirsten Dunst and Saturday Night Live funnyguy Jimmy Fallon. The show will be taped June 2 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for broadcast June 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Other top contenders Tuesday? Cast Away picked up four nominations, including one for Best On-Screen Team (Tom Hanks and his volleyball, Wilson), Save the Last Dance also picked up four, while Charlie's Angels, Crouching Tiger, Hannibal and Romeo Must Die picked up three apiece.
The nominations were determined by a national poll of MTV and MTV2 viewers. And the winners also will be chosen by viewers, who can vote until May 23 by calling 1-900-288-4MTV (75 cents a pop) or visiting mtv.excite.com.
This year, voters also can go online to write in their choices for four new categories--Favorite Line, Best Cameo, Best Music Moment and Best Dressed. Nominees for the new categories will be announced May 23, and voting will continue up until the day of the show.
To which we say: Dude. Sweet.
Here's a complete list of all the nominees:
BEST MOVIE: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Erin Brockovich Gladiator Hannibal X-Men
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE: Russell Crowe, Gladiator Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible 2 Omar Epps, Love & Basketball Mel Gibson, The Patriot Tom Hanks, Cast Away
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Aaliyah, Romeo Must Die Kate Hudson, Almost Famous Jennifer Lopez, The Cell Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich Julia Stiles, Save The Last Dance
BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE: Jim Carrey, Me, Myself & Irene Tom Green, Road Trip Martin Lawrence, Big Momma's House Eddie Murphy, Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps Ben Stiller, Meet the Parents
BEST ON-SCREEN TEAM: Tom Hanks/Wilson (the volleyball), Cast Away Drew Barrymore/Cameron Diaz/Lucy Liu, Charlie's Angels Robert De Niro/Ben Stiller, Meet the Parents George Clooney/Tim Blake Nelson/John Turturro, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Halle Berry/Hugh Jackman/James Marsden/Anna Paquin, X-Men
BEST VILLAIN: Kevin Bacon, Hollow Man Jim Carrey, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas Vincent D'Onofrio, The Cell Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator
BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE: Jack Black, High Fidelity Patrick Fugit, Almost Famous Tom Green, Road Trip Hugh Jackman, X-Men Ashton Kutcher, Dude, Where's My Car? Sean Patrick Thomas, Save the Last Dance
BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE: Aaliyah, Romeo Must Die Erika Christensen, Traffic Anna Faris, Scary Movie Piper Perabo, Coyote Ugly Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
BEST KISS: Jon Abrahams and Anna Faris, Scary Movie Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, Bounce Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt, Cast Away Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore, Hannibal Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, Save the Last Dance
BEST FIGHT: Drew Barrymore vs. attackers, Charlie's Angels Russell Crowe vs. masked opponent and tiger, Gladiator Jet Li with hose vs. attackers, Romeo Must Die Zhang Ziyi vs. entire bar, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
BEST ACTION SEQUENCE: Cast Away, plane crash Gladiator, Roman Army vs. Germanian horde Gone In 60 Seconds, car chase through construction site Mission: Impossible 2, motorcycle chase
BEST DANCE SEQUENCE: Billy Elliot, Billy's first lesson Bring It On, opening cheer Charlie's Angels, Cameron Diaz fantasy sequence Save the Last Dance, club scene