LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The kiss mattered most at MTV's movie awards Saturday -- "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings" was named 2001's top film by MTV viewers, but a same-sex kiss in "American Pie 2" took the night's juiciest prize, Best Kiss.

Seann William Scott, who smacked lips with Jason Biggs in "Pie 2," stood on his chair and raised his arms in triumph to a wildly cheering audience after being named winner, and onstage he thanked his old girlfriends for helping him practice.

"Jason and I were just hoping we wouldn't end our careers with that," he told reporters after winning MTV's trophy, a bucket of golden popcorn. When asked how many times it took to get the scene right, Scott grinned and said: "Way too many."

But there was one movie star who would have loved to have been in Scott's shoes.

"Moulin Rouge" beauty Nicole Kidman lamented that she and co-star Ewan McGregor didn't win the kissing award. Instead, the pair walked off with the trophy for best musical sequence.

"I'm really bummed we didn't win best kiss," said Kidman onstage with McGregor. "We needed to rehearse more."

GOLDEN BUCKET OF POPCORN

Elsewhere, Will Smith was given the golden bucket of popcorn for best male performance playing championship boxer Muhammad Ali in "Ali," and Nicole Kidman took home the golden popcorn for best female acting in musical "Moulin Rouge."

Smith and Kidman, too, had been nominated for the film industry's top honor, the Oscar, for the same roles. But Smith lost to Denzel Washington in "Training Day" and Kidman saw Halle Berry take home the Oscar for "Monster's Ball."

Unlike the Oscars , MTV's awards are chosen by the mostly younger viewers of the cable TV channel, and they reflect popular culture more than the Oscars, which are chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences .

The MTV awards, too, are often irreverent with trophies for best fight and best action sequence compared with Oscar's serious topics like cinematographer or art direction.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" had gone into Saturday night's show as the most nominated movie with entries in six categories, but it walked away with only two: the top prize for best film and a second for Orlando Bloom as breakthrough male actor of the year.

"Mandy Moore" in romance "A Walk to Remember" was named breakthrough female performer. Denzel Washington was beaten by Will Smith in MTV's category for top male actor, but his performance as a corrupt cop in "Training Day" was "bad" enough for Washington to claim a bucket of golden popcorn as MTV viewers' favorite villain.

Best Fight winners were comedian Chris Tucker and action hero Jackie Chan in "Rush Hour 2" and top action sequence went to last summer's "Pearl Harbor." Reese Witherspoon took home the popcorn for best comedic performance in sleeper hit, "Legally Blonde," and best on-screen team went to Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in "The Fast and the Furious."

As usual, the MTV show featured brief clips from some of this summer's most talked about movies like "Austin Powers in Goldmember" and this holiday season's "The Gangs of New York."

Musical spotlights included numbers by rapper Eminem , rockers The White Stripes and Kelly Osbourne -- Ozzy Osbourne's daughter and star of hit TV show "The Osbournes" -- who performed her version of Madonna 's "Papa Don't Preach."

UPSIDE-DOWN KISS

Show hosts Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar of the new "Scooby Doo" movie spoofed several summer blockbusters like "Spider-Man" in which Black and Gellar recreated the much talked-about upside-down kiss of "Spider-Man" stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Except this kiss had a "Star Wars" twist to it when Yoda got involved, and again, it was the kiss that had the Force at the MTV Awards. The 2002 MTV Movie Award winners were picked by a nationwide survey of MTV viewers. The telecast will air on June 6 on the MTV cable television channel and be seen in 165 countries in 18 different languages. Last year's premiere telecast was seen by 15 million viewers.