The Hunger Games won four MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, but it was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part One that picked up the award for best movie — the fourth year running for the franchise.

British comedian Russell Brand was the evening's host — and he quickly launched into jokes about his short-lived marriage to singer Katy Perry by thanking Kim Kardashian for "taking the pressure off" with her 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries.

He also had jokes directed at Justin Bieber Charlie Sheen, John Travolta and Kanye West and directed a quip at Michael Fassbender for "profiting from sex addiction" in his movie Shame.

Hungry for awards

The Hunger Games — based on Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel of the same name — nabbed awards including best male performance for Josh Hutcherson, best transformation for Elizabeth Banks and best fight.

Jennifer Lawrence — the film's star — was presented with the award for best female performance by past winner and Twilight Saga star Kristen Stewart. While Lawrence was not present at the ceremony, her acceptance speech thanked Collins for "creating such an iconic, powerful character in Katniss Everdeen".

Bridesmaids picked up two awards for best comedic performance by Melissa McCarthy and best gut-wrenching performance for its stomach-turning food poisoning scene, and the final instalment of the Harry Potter franchise picked up nods for best cast and best hero for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.

The Descendants star Shailene Woodley picked up the award for best breakthrough performance, while Crazy Stupid Love star Emma Stone teared up as she was presented with the trailblazer award.

"It's an honour to be associated with a concept like trailblazing," Stone said, along with "the only thing I can hope that something like this award inspires is originality."

'Something wrong with me'

Dark Shadows star Johnny Depp was presented with the generation award for a career spanning three decades.

"It's like the get-out-of-the-business award basically, when you've done too much ... There's obviously something wrong with me," Depp joked in his acceptance speech.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star also showed off his guitar skills on the stage, joining rockers The Black Keys for their hit singles Gold On The Ceiling and Lonely Boy.

And in some of the night's sillier moments, Jennifer Aniston picked up the best on-screen dirtbag award for her role as a foul-mouthed, blackmailing dentist in Horrible Bosses. "I would like to say thank you for the television show Friends, for allowing me to unleash my inner sweetheart, and Seth Gordon for allowing me to announce my best dirtbag," she said in her acceptance.

Meanwhile, the best kiss trophy was presented to Twilight Saga stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson — for the third year straight. However, Stewart's real-life boyfriend Pattinson was absent from the evening while promoting his new film Cosmopolis — and so Stewart accepted the award solo. It is, however, traditional for the winners of the best kiss award to share a smooch on stage — and Stewart jokingly begged for a buddy, calling on her Snow White and the Huntsman and other Twilight Saga co-stars.

"Where's my Huntsman?" she asked, looking for Chris Hemsworth. "Charlize?" she offered. "Where's Taylor [Lautner]?" she pleaded. No matter, though – Stewart proceeded to accept the award in the traditional manner anyway — by making out with herself.

Other notable moments including a near-strip tease featuring Magic Mike stars Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey — and Joe Manganiello in a sexy fireman's outfit.

And, more touchingly, Batman star Christian Bale gave an emotional introduction to an exclusive trailer for the next film The Dark Knight Rises. Looking up at the screen, a visibly moved Bale said: "It's great to see Heath Ledger up there," in his iconic Joker character.

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