'Slumdog Millionaire,' with five awards, emerged the big winner at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards 2009 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday, January 8. Dev Patel in a still from 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Photo Credit: Ishika Mohan

January 09, 2009, (Sawf News) - Slumdog Millionaire with five awards emerged the big winner at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards 2009 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday, January 8.

The Danny Boyle helmed and Simon Beaufoy written film, the story of an indigent teen who hits a game show jackpot, only to have the law breathing down his neck, continued its inexorable march as 2008's standout film with wins in the categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Young Actor /Actress (Dev Patel) and Best Composer (AR Rahman)

Sean Penn's riveting and resonant portrayal as a San Francisco activist in Milk won him the Best Actor award. The film also won awards for Best Acting Ensemble.

Anne Hathaway, as a recovering addict plopped in the middle of her sister's wedding in Rachel Getting Married, and Meryl Streep, as the unyielding nun bent on investigating charges of abuse leveled at a parish priest in Doubt, shared the Best Actress award.

Late Heath Ledger's performance as a menacing villain in The Dark Night earned him the Best Supporting Actor award, while Kate Winslet got the nod as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a beleaguered SS officer accused of war camp atrocities in The Reader.

The Dark Night was also named the Best Action Film.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Actor

Sean Penn, Milk (Winner)
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress

Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married (Winner)
Meryl Streep, Doubt (Winner)
Kate Beckinsale, Nothing But the Truth
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River

Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (Winner)
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
James Franco, Milk

Supporting Actress

Kate Winslet, The Reader (Winner)
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Vera Farmiga, Nothing But the Truth
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Animated Feature

WALL-E (Winner)
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Waltz With Bashir

Best Acting Ensemble

Milk (Winner)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Rachel Getting Married

Best Director

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Best Writer (Original or Adapted Screenplay)

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt

Best Young Actor/Actress (Under 21)

Dev Petal - Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees
David Kross - The Reader
Brandon Walters - Australia

Best Action Movie

The Dark Knight (Winner)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Wanted

Best Comedy

Tropic Thunder (Winner)
Burn After Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Role Models
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Picture Made For Television

"John Adams" (Winner)
"Recount"
"Coco Chanel"

Best Foreign Language Film

Waltz With Bashir (Winner)
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol

Best Documentary Feature

Man On Wire (Winner)
I.O.U.S.A.
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young At Heart

Best Song

"The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler (Winner)
"Another Way to Die" - Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White - Quantum of Solace
"Down to Earth" - Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - Wall-E 
"I Thought I Lost You" - Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele - Bolt 
"Jaiho" - Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire

Best Composer

A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood - Changeling 
Danny Elfman - Milk
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight

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