I never thought I’d see the day when people were making a big deal out of the National Board of Review honors. In fact I never thought I’d see the day where I knew what the National Board of Review was. Sounds like some kind of financial monitoring organization. It turns out it’s comprised of film professionals. How delightfully vague. But in these awards show-starved times, celebrities will take what they can get – and they will make a big deal out of it. As much as we love them, you’ve got to admit they’re a needy folk. A season without at least two major awards shows is cause for some serious Xanax popping. The awards were held at Manhattan restaurant Cipriani last night, and had all the big names.

After a no-wattage Golden Globes, any chance for stars to shine during this writers’ strike-afflicted awards season is suddenly a precious opportunity.

The glam crowd came out Tuesday night to accept their honors from the National Board of Review — George Clooney, Casey and Ben Affleck, and those two cute kids, Emile Hirsch and Ellen Page. The board is made up of film professionals.

Of course, it helps that the honorees already know they are winners and won’t have to suffer the embarrassment of going home with nothing to hold except a doggie bag from Cipriani’s.

[From USA Today]

Ellen Page won a breakthrough-performance award for her great performance in Juno. Jennifer Garner, who co-starred in the film with Page, said, “The person who is getting this award in the last month or so has become the most powerful woman in Hollywood.” George Clooney presented Joel and Ethen Coen an award for best adapted screenplay for No Country for Old Men. Casey Affleck – whose wife Summer Phoenix gave birth to a son a few days ago – won a best supporting-actor award for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. He presented older brother Ben with a directing award for Gone Baby Gone, and noted “I’m a little bit humbled by it all. The National Board of Review is a very prestigious organization.”

I’m not sure if so many high profile actors usually show up to the National Board of Review honors, or if it’s because they really haven’t been able to get their awards show fix this season. Since the NNRH (I’ve decided to abbreviate it… once you’ve gotten an abbreviation, you’re that much cooler as an organization) are never televised they usually don’t get much coverage, so it’s possible this is par for the course. But I’m going to guess the honors had at least a little more star power this year. If the WGA strike continues, pretty soon celebrities really will be showing up for the opening of an envelope.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Thanks to Splash News and PRPhotos for these pictures, which feature Lauren Bacall, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kate Winslet, Casey Affleck, George Clooney, Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Denzel Washington, Jesse L. Martin, Tommy Lee Jones, and Tilda Swinton.