Josh Brolin Kisses-Off the NY Film Critics Awards

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With awards season officially in full swing this week (look for People's Choice, Critic's Choice and the Golden Globes by Sunday), there couldn't have been a more eyebrow-raising kickoff than Milk and W star Josh Brolin's comments at the New York Film Critics Awards dinner Monday night at Manhattan's Strata.

Brolin, 40, won the Best Supporting Actor category for his portrayal of Milk's Dan White, the San Francisco city supervisor who assassinated his colleague Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone in 1978.

While paying credit to his film's lead actor in his acceptance speech, Brolin simultaneously let loose on his onetime American Gangster co-star, Russell Crowe.

"Quite an actor, Sean Penn. And not an a**hole like Russell Crowe," said Brolin, as quoted by Fox News. He then emphasized for those in the audience still in shock: "Like Russell Crowe.”

Brolin added another off-the-cuff comment: “I said I studied rats. I said that on the Actors Studio about how I prepared for W. It was a lie.”

Meanwhile, in more Josh-as-bad-boy-actor news, TMZ reports that a settlement has been reached in the Shreveport, Louisiana, bar scuffle the award winner was involved in back in July, while filming W.

Provided he and fellow brawler Jeffrey Wright don't run into the law again between now and March 11, all charges will be dropped in the case.

Brolin and Wright, 43, were initially nabbed for the misdemeanor of interfering with the police at Shreveport's Stray Cat bar when a fight broke out.

Other winners at the New York Film Critics Awards, which were announced in early December, include:

Best Picture: Milk

Best Director: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Actor: Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, Milk

Best Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married

Best Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best First Film: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

Best Foreign Film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Best Documentary: Man on Wire