The Cribbies

What are the Cribbies?

The Cribbies Hall of Awesome

The Cribbies Canon

2009

Cribbies records

CRIBBIES OFFICIALLY GAY
'Milk,' 'Mamma Mia!' Lead Nominations; 'Slumdog' Spurned

The Virtual Crib came out of the collective closet today as the Eleventh Annual Cribbie Nominations, Celebrating Achievement in Filmmaking, Acting and Hotness, were announced. Leading the rainbow-flag-waving pack was Gus Van Sant's biopic MILK, which received seven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Just behind MILK was MAMMA MIA!, the ABBAthon musical, which danced its way to five nominations, including Best Picture. Beefcake was supplied by THE DARK KNIGHT, which, though spurned by the Oscars, was embraced by the Cribbies, earning six noms, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for the late Heath Ledger, who is also considered by Cribbies insiders a lock for the Hall of Awesome.

This year's nominations were evenly spread out, with factions of the Virtual Crib pushing their favorites into contention. Movies with strong, localized support included the other two Best Picture nominees: Pixar's WALL-E and, in a shocker, the Swedish teenage vampire thriller LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. Also beloved by small groups of Virtual Cribbers were the teen comedy NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST; Mike Leigh's HAPPY-GO-LUCKY; and this year's best Judd Apatow-related movie, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, which garnered three nominations, including two in the coveted Get It On categories.

This year's Cribbies nominations could be viewed as a sharp rebuke to the Academy; only one Oscar nominee for Best Picture was nominated for the equivalent Cribbie, and Academy darling SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, while garnering five Cribbie noms, was left off the Best Picture ballot. Meanwhile, fellow Oscar nominee for Best Picture THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON was nominated for Worst Fucking Thing, alongside THE HOTTIE AND THE NOTTIE, which no one even saw.

A total of 37 films were nominated for Cribbies, an impressive total considering how everyone spent the entire nomination period bitching about how they didn't see any movies. Other films that performed well in today's nominations included VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, with five nods, including Best Director; YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, with three noms, including one in the coveted Get It On category; and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, nominated for three Cribbies. Celebration among the cast members of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD was subdued, however, when it was later learned that the movie had also been nominated for Worst Fucking Thing.

Some surprising nominations include Best Music nominations for Steven Soderbergh's eleven-hour epic CHE and the documentary WE ARE WIZARDS, as well as a Supporting Actor nomination for the comedian Russell Brand, in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. Three actors followed in the Cribbie tradition of being nominated for Best Bit Part for playing a nonhuman: Mark Walton, as the guinea pig in BOLT, Seth MacFarlane, as the noncorporeal detective in HELLBOY II, and Lucy, as Lucy in WENDY AND LUCY. With her nomination for Best Actress for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, Kate Winslet maintains her position as the second-most nominated person in Cribbies history, with 11 lifetime nominations.

Among the 15 nominees for inclusion in the Cribbies Hall of Awesome are Tina Fey, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeffrey Wright, and Lyra Smith Kois. Films up for consideration to be added to the Cribbies Canon include BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, QUICK CHANGE, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, and two movies from 2008 that apparently no one saw: MAN ON WIRE and GHOST TOWN.

So now, it's time to vote! An official ballot will follow this press release. Send Dan your votes before the night of TUESDAY, MARCH 31 at MIDNIGHT. That gives you almost an entire month to see movies and vote!

Thanks to all of you who sent in your nominations. Even if you didn't have a chance to nominate anything, though, PLEASE be sure to vote! It's your participation that makes this fun. And feel free, everyone, to campaign for your favorites -- though it would be swell to keep the family-threatening to a minimum.