Chester the Cheetah, M3GAN, and Cocaine Bear walk into a bar…that’s not a punchline, but an actual afterparty possibility when the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards premiere next month. Allow us to explain: nominations for the offbeat awards show are here, and right at home in a week that’s wildly fluctuated from Barbie and Ken memes to Trump’s arrest and swerved back to news of Shrek 5’s existence—and it’s only Wednesday.
Leading the pack of golden popcorn contenders are Top Gun: Maverick, Stranger Things and The Last of Us with six nominations each. They’re followed closely behind by The White Lotus and Wednesday with four nods apiece. The delightfully eccentric Drew Barrymore will host the ceremony, which is voted on by the fans through April 17, when it airs live on May 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
The MTV Movie & TV Awards, which hand out awards for everything from best movie to most frightened performance (RIP best-scared-as-shit performance, the category’s far punchier former moniker), is perhaps the only awards show that’ll weigh in on the Vanderpump Rules drama with a best reality onscreen team (presented by SONIC®, naturally) nomination for the anti-Scandoval brigade known as Ariana Madix, Katie Maloney, Scheana Shay, and LaLa Kent. And its decision to go gender-neutral allows for exciting lineups like this year’s best performance in a show category, which is led by an all-female crop of nominees.
And yet—this deeply unserious awards show is a dish best served confused. Ahead, a look at the most pressing who, what, when, where, and why queries of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Award nominations.
Who Will Prevail in M3GAN v. Cocaine Bear v. Harry Styles?
This year’s honor for most chaotic lineup of nominees goes to best villain, which pits Harry Styles for Don’t Worry Darling up against (slightly) more paranormal forces including Stranger Things’ Vecna, demonic doll M3GAN, and the eponymous Cocaine Bear. Each of these factions has impassioned defenders and detractors, but one can’t help but be hopeful that an inhuman contender will prevail, if only to see just how the telecast will pull it off. Better yet—let’s call it a three-way-tie that sees a combo of these icons split the golden popcorn Mean Girls-style.
What Happens if Florence Pugh Wins?
Florence Pugh thought that the whole Don’t Worry Darling press tour—and the rumors about her relationship with filmmaker Olivia Wilde that came along with it—was safely in her rearview mirror. Then the MTV Movie & TV Awards came calling with her nomination for best performance in a movie. It’s hard to imagine Pugh beating more standardly triumphant hero performances from Elvis’s Austin Butler or Top Gun: Maverick’s Tom Cruise. Even still, there’s something that feels right about tempting fate and voting for the chaos that this awards show was built to create. Manifesting that Pugh accepts virtually while sipping an Aperol Spritz and wearing purple.
Why Would the Best Kiss Be Presented By Cheetos?
Best Kiss is perhaps the most iconic MTV Movie & TV Awards category, in part thanks to the precedent set by co-stars-turned-couple Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams to seal their 2005 win for The Notebook with an onstage smooch. (Go ahead—watch it again.) But more baffling than this year’s nominees—Selena Gomez and Cara Delevingne for Only Murders in the Building and Riley Keough and Sam Claflin for Daisy Jones and the Six among them—is the brand hitching its wagon to the category. That would be Cheetos, perhaps the last chip you’d want to eat before leaning in for a peck. That is, unless fingertips dipped in orange residue is considered a turn-on.
When Will The White Lotus’s Mia and Lucia Ever Lose?
One absolutely stacked category is that of best duo, which contains everyone from The Last of Us’ instantly-beloved Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey to Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke in the pulpy teen comedy Do Revenge. But how can voters take one look at this lineup and not award The White Lotus’s Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò aka Lucia and Mia? Even if both are to score Emmy nominations separately, this is the only awards show that will get the opportunity to rightfully recognize this dynamic duo as a pair. Just as these two rode off into the Italian sunset with their bag secured in the series, expect them to skillfully scheme their way to a golden popcorn—no mysterious pills required.
Where Does the Don McLean Documentary Fit Into Any Of This?
If there’s any way to properly view the MTV Movie & TV Awards, it’s as a time capsule for the youths—a reflection of their tendencies towards Twilight and anything starring Dwayne Johnson. That calls into question the inclusion of The Day the Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie in the best music documentary category alongside efforts from the likes of Lizzo and Selena Gomez. Although an ostensibly admirable film about a successful 1970s folk rock singer, this is an extreme case of one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other that makes one think a particularly indignant MTV producer fought like hell to ensure the kids had to do at least one mid-voting Google search.
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