CULVER CITY, Calif. - Fresh from leading the Cannes jury, Robert De Niro found himself on stage at the Guys Choice Awards praising Keith Richards' ''big brass balls'' and telling an audience that Sean Penn peaked with ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High.''
De Niro played the dirty-mouthed elder statesman at Saturday night's Spike TV honors, a sort of brash, puerile younger brother to the MTV Movie Awards, which was airing live on that network Sunday (see Page 2A).
Like that show, the Guys Choice stage was populated by Hollywood types with something to promote - mostly summer movies.
Justin Timberlake leered at his ''Friends With Benefits'' co-star Mila Kunis as she took the ''Holy Grail of Hot'' trophy, while his ''Bad Teacher'' co-star Cameron Diaz kicked off the show with a monologue.
''Mr. Popper's Penguins'' star Jim Carrey shared an unprintable story about how he became a funnyman through a painful encounter with an uncle.
''I'm actually kind of a geek that way when I come out to these things,'' Carrey said backstage. ''It's half to just be creative and do some crazy, blow-out thing and half because I like seeing people that are in my business. Kind of cool.''
Richards received the lifetime achievement trophy, previously given to the likes of Clint Eastwood. He hoisted the Brass Balls award, which resembles a giant dumbbell with spheres on two sides.
Mark Wahlberg was named ''Guy of the Year'' and his Oscar-nominated ''The Fighter'' took ''Guy Movie of the Year.''
The Guys Choice Awards will air Friday on Spike TV.
