"Spotlight" actress Rachel McAdams on behalf of herself and co-stars Liev Schreiber, Mark Ruffalo, John Slattery, Michael Keaton, Brian d'Arcy James and Billy Crudup accepted the best ensemble prize during the show.
"I think we all know the true best ensemble are the real life heroes of Spotlight," McAdams said of the Boston Globe journalists who exposed Roman Catholic pedophile priests in a front-page expose.
Golden Globe winner Leonardo DiCaprio won best actor for "The Revenant". Brie Larson kept her winning streak going with best actress for her portrayal of a woman held captive for seven years in "Room" while her nine-year-old co-star Jacob Tremblay was declared best young actor.
Neither star was present to claim their prize - DiCaprio is doing foreign press for the Alejandro Inarritu film. Larson is currently filming "Kong: Skull Island."
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"The Big Short" won the award for best comedy while its lead actor Christian Bale was declared the best comedy actor.
"Inside Out" bagged the award in the animated feature category while best sci-fi/horror movie trophy went to "Ex Machina".
Hungarian Holocaust drama "Son of Saul" was declared the best foreign film.
In the documentary category, Indo-British helmer Asif Kapadia's "Amy", a chronicle of singer Amy Winehouse's short life, emerged winner.
USA's "Mr Robot" and Netflix's "Master of None" were also in the winner's list at the awards, which was the first year that the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association combined their annual winners for one show.
On the television side, "Mr Robot" took best drama and Indian-American Aziz Ansari's "Master of None" surprised everyone by winning best comedy. Best actor and actress in comedy went to Rachel Bloom ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend") and Jeffrey Tambor ("Transparent").
For TV drama, "The Leftovers" powerhouse Carrie Coon took best actress and "Robot" star Rami Malek received best actor.
Judd Apatow presented Amy Schumer with the Critics' Choice MVP award for her work on Comedy Central's "Inside Amy Schumer" and Universal's "Trainwreck."
The awards were hosted by "Silicon Valley" comic TJ Miller.