Milk came into the contest with eight nominations. ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ also had eight nods, but didn't win a single award.

Kate Winslet was named best supporting actress for ‘The Reader,’ while Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep tied for best actress for ‘Rachel Getting Married’ and ‘Doubt’ respectively.

"Meryl is my idol," Hathaway said backstage. "To win with my idol who I was nominated against is amazing. I'm so thrilled for her and I'm very thrilled for myself, too."

Winslet and Streep weren't on hand to accept their awards, nor was Bruce Springsteen, who won best song for ‘The Wrestler,’ from the movie of the same name.

Director Darren Aronofsky accepted on the Boss' behalf.

"I don't know how you put words into the coolest man's mouth," he said, "so I'll just say thank you."

‘WALL-E’ was the best animated feature and ‘Tropic Thunder’ was best comedy.

"There's a lot of awards out there, and this one, I think, has the most meaning," said writer, director and star Ben Stiller. "I'm not just saying that because this is the only award our movie was nominated for."

Richard Gere received a standing ovation as he accepted the Joel Siegel award, which recognizes an entertainer's humanitarian efforts. The 59-year-old actor is a longtime supporter of Tibet.

"Clearly I'm undeserving of this," Gere said, urging the audience to "channel all that energy to Tibet."

The 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards, presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, honored cinematic excellence in 17 categories. The group, which represents more than 200 TV, radio and online critics from the United States and Canada, founded the Critics' Choice Awards in 1995.