Josh Brolin gave one of the most shocking acceptance speeches to date at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards dinner. The W star received the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in the Sean Penn film Milk.

Brolin went on to poke fun at Penn and skewer his nemeses, Russell Crowe and New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley, in his acceptance speech.

The action began when Sean Penn introduced Brolin. He poked fun at the actor saying,

“I’m sorry it took until your 40’s for you to be recognized. I wrote [Josh] off as I do all square-jawed actors. But bit by bit - as he became older and older - I realized he’s going to become such an asset to the film industry… “

Brolin responded by giving Sean Penn the finger and launching into an expletive-filled speech:

“We’ve all known Sean as an actor who doesn’t smile very much. Sean, you smiled a lot in this film. You’re going to win an Oscar. Just because you smiled so much…
Quite the actor, that Sean Penn. He’s not an a**hole… like Russell Crowe…
I’ve had the gamut of reviews over the past few years, the worst being from Ben Brantley. The critics of NYC have written incredible reviews… except for Ben Brantley’s. [Fudge] you, Ben. God, I hate that mother[fudger]! And I don’t think he’s a good writer.”

You should probably note that he did not say “fudge.”  Brolin’s beef with Russell Crowe may have something to do with their time together on the set of American Gangster. Also, Brolin’s strong hatred for Ben Brantley stems from Brantley’s review of Brolin’s 2000 Broadway performance in Sam Shepard’s True West.

Talk about publicly calling people out. Who would have thought that all this rage could come from someone who started their career out in The Goonies. What would his stepmother Barbara Streisand say?

We predict that this display will give Brolin some street cred and the opportunity to step out of his supporting role in dramas and into some edgier more independent roles.