I'm always a bit sceptical about awards and how truly representative they are of great talent, skill and achievement. The inaugural National Movie Awards last night did little to allay my scepticism.
There is the fact that the winners are chosen from the top grossing films at the British box office, thereby intrinsically linking financial gain with achievement.
For example, the third Pirates of the Caribbean was nominated for best family film when it was shambolic, indulgent milking of one character while a bunch of special-effects nerds recreated their favourite wet-dreams.
I digress slightly.
Having already shrouded the awards in cold, hard commercialism the organisers then set about taking every opportunity possible for some blatant product plugging. Everything from the 'kind' jewellers Asprey who designed and made the statues to the next haul of movies which will all be scrabbling for box office success and, presumably, earning themselves a place on next years NMA shortlist. I'm surprised the celebrity guests weren't more labelled-up or given a premier drinks brand to hold just in case the camera caught them in a panning shot.
Even the 'generous' publications that acted as a conduit for the votes were heftily plugged.
The result was an actress such as Emma Watson beating the talent of Dame Judi Dench in what proved to be merely a popularity contest among the readers of Heat made into a bloated marketing vehicle which even the celebrity audience seemed embarrassed to be sitting through.
The fact that it is called 'movie' awards just adds insult to injury. We call them films in this country, something Dame Helen Mirren pointed out while on stage in what turned out to be the only entertaining moment of the whole debacle.