One of the reasons the MTV Movie Awards are entertaining is because they reward a much wider variety of accomplishments in film than your average awards show. This is the place that gave lifetime achievement awards to the likes of Clint Howard and Chewbacca, after all. It’s also one of the few awards shows where comedy is given real consideration alongside much more traditional award winners. As part of that dedication, MTV will be handing out their third ever Comedic Genius Award on Sunday to Melissa McCarthy.
Melissa McCarthy rose to prominence following the success of Bridesmaids, a film which MTV points out in their press release, won a pair of MTV movie awards for the actress. Since then, McCarthy has gone on to star in a string of comedies herself including Spy, Identity Thief, and Tammy. While not every film that McCarthy makes is the sort of thing that critics adore, her films have been continuously successful at the box office, combining solid, if not always staggering, ticket sales with comparatively small budgets, McCarthy has been as close to a sure thing as the box office has these days.
Melissa McCarthy’s newest film, The Boss, will open in theaters this Friday, just a couple of days before she accepts her Comedic Genius Award. In the film, she plays the role of Michelle Darnell, a wealthy businesswoman who loses everything after getting busted by the feds for insider trading, and has to start over at the bottom.
The Comedic Genius Award has become a semi-regular presentation at the MTV movie awards in recent years. Last year, the award was given to Kevin Hart, who will be hosting the ceremony itself this year along with his Central Intelligence co-star Dwayne Johnson. The first award was given to Will Ferrell in 2013.
Melissa McCarthy has been something of a lightning rod for controversy recently as she is part of the all-female Ghostbusters reboot that will be hitting theaters this July. The decision to give McCarthy this award at their ceremony this year has to be viewed within that lens. This award is not given out every year so the choice to give this actress this award this year was a conscious one. Whether there is an intentional statement of support here, or simply a dismissing of the critics, remains to be seen.
What do you think about Melissa McCarthy being named a comedic genius by MTV? Do you agree?
