It’s that time of year when the Golden Raspberry Awards (otherwise known as the Razzies) announce its nominations for the worst of cinema’s efforts of the last year. The Oscars’ ugly cousin often faces controversy and backlash for its mean-spiritedness, and there have been recent calls for it to end, per Independent, despite it only intending to exist in the name of satire and good fun. This year’s nominations see Blonde, Good Mourning, and Pinocchio receiving the most nominations — with beloved actor Tom Hanks coming out particularly badly.
Art is subjective — one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — and that could be applied to the appreciation of movies. There are some movies and performances throughout history that have been universally panned, and those are most often a shoe in for a Razzie nomination. That’s not to say that the parody award show doesn’t always get it right. There have been times when movies have been ahead of their time and reappraised over time, in which hindsight would have been a wonderful gift. Other times, The Razzies just sometimes miss the mark. Here are 10 examples of when they flat out got it wrong.
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10 Jim Carrey Getting Nominated for Worst New Star
New Line Cinema
1994 marks one of the greatest breakthrough years for an actor in Hollywood history, when Jim Carrey appeared in Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura. All three were huge commercial hits and set the foundations for his career to come, which saw the actor becoming among the most celebrated and highest paid actors of the 90s, who continued to act in a plethora of memorable roles over the decades to come. Despite all three movies still being considered among his best work to this day, the big wigs at the Razzies weren’t so impressed and felt that his work on those movies qualified him for a nomination for Worst New Star.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 Bruce Willis Having His Own Category in 2021
Miramax
Far from his heyday as one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes, starring in Hollywood’s biggest movies including Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, Armageddon, and a later, more dramatic role in The Sixth Sense, towards the end of his career, Bruce Willis was churning out dozens of straight to streaming movies that admittedly lacked a lot of the artistic merit that he’d been previously known for. In 2021, he starred in a whopping eight movies, all of which were critically panned, with particular criticism being aimed at Willis for appearing to just “phone in” his performances as news spread of him having to have lines fed to him via an earpiece.
The Razzies picked up on this and decided to create an entire category specifically for “Worst Performance from Bruce Willis,” making it certain that he would win a Razzie that year. It was later revealed that Willis is suffering from a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate. This not only explained Willis’ change in acting ability, but also his reasons for accepting the roles he was offered. Thankfully, after learning of his diagnosis, the awards board decided to retract the decision, stating, “If someone’s medical condition is a factor in their decision-making and/or their performance, we acknowledge that it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie,” (via US Magazine).
8 Stanley Kubrick Getting Nominated for Worst Director for The Shining
Warner Bros.
Visionary director Stanley Kubrick suffered from being ahead of his time, and nothing exemplifies this better than his work on The Shining, a 1980 psychological horror starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. At the time of its release, the reviews were mixed, with many criticizing its slow pacing, something rarely seen in the horror genre at the time. It has since been reappraised and is now widely considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time and a huge influence on the genre. Failing to see The Shining as the classic it later became, Kubrick was nominated for Worst Director for his work on the project. Needless to say, he is now considered one of the greatest directors to have lived, with The Shining being arguably his finest work.
7 Shelley Duvall Getting Nominated for Worst Actress in The Shining
As explained above, The Shining is now considered one of the all-time greatest horror movies, and while reactions to Jack Nicholson’s performance were generally positive, they were a bit more hit or miss for Shelley Duvall’s. The Razzies’ decision to nominate her for Worst Actress was probably based on her often over the top portrayal of a woman in a constant state of fear and shock in the latter half of the movie. While Kubrick has since been lauded as one of Hollywood’s finest directors, his methods haven’t always been so positively received. In particular, it has later transpired that his treatment of Duvall on the set of The Shining was particularly poor. In an attempt to go Method, he tried to make the on-screen horror a reality by keeping his lead actress in a constant state of panic by berating and alienating her on set. Having learned of the toxic conditions surrounding her performance, Razzies co-founder Mo Murphy has stated, when talking about the nomination, “Knowing the backstory and the way that Stanley Kubrick kind of pulverized her, I would take that back.”
6 The Thing Getting Nominated for Worst Score
Universal Pictures
Like The Shining, The Thing is another horror movie that, at the time of its release, received mixed reviews, but has since gone onto be reappraised and is now considered a classic of the genre. Directed by John Carpenter, who often scores his own movies, this time around Ennio Morricone (best known for the iconic score to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) was hired to provide the score, which was dark, brooding, and atmospheric. It was the perfect accompaniment to a perfect movie. Apparently, the Razzies didn’t see it that way and nominated it for Worst Score. A mistake that must still haunt them to this day.
5 Adam Sandler Getting Nominated for Worst Actor for Bulletproof and Happy Gilmore
Adam Sandler’s unique brand of irreverent, often juvenile, humor is certainly not for everyone. But there are lots and lots of people who like him. The Razzies are definitely not among those people. In fact, Sandler has been nominated for a whopping 37 awards and won nine times, beaten only by Sylvester Stallone. Sandler has definitely made some questionable movies (Jack and Jill, anyone?), but the 90s, by Sandler’s standards, was quite possibly his best decade. Happy Gilmore is considered by many to be among his best comedy work, and Bulletproof was a fairly inoffensive buddy comedy.
4 Sylvester Stallone Winning Worst Actor of the Century
MGM/20th Century Fox
At the 20th Golden Raspberry Awards, iconic action star Sylvester Stallone was given the event’s biggest (dis)honor of being awarded with the award for the Worst Actor of the Century “for 99.5% of everything he’s EVER done.” Sure, Stallone has made some duds, and he perhaps doesn’t have the biggest range when it comes to acting, but he’s certainly made some classics over the years. He took that eponymous character in Rocky and made it his own, he kicked some serious ass in Rambo, and he was definitely fun to watch in Demolition Man, Cliffhanger and even Tango and Cash. Surely, there is a more worthy actor out there?
3 Danny DeVito Being Nominated for Worst Supporting Actor for Batman Returns
Batman Returns remains one of the greatest entries in the Batman franchise and Danny DeVito’s portrayal of the Penguin is one of the movie’s most memorably parts. Unlike anything we’d seen from the actor before, DeVito, thanks to a lot of prosthetics and make-up, completely transformed into the hideously disfigured villain. Not only was the physical transformation great, but DeVito fully committed to the role in terms of acting, and injected just enough humor to make the otherwise repulsive character a real treat to watch. And let’s face it: compared to some of the villains in the next couple of Batman movies, it probably deserves an Oscar.
2 Friday the 13th Being Nominated for Worst Movie
Paramount Pictures
Despite being released after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a year after Halloween, Friday the 13th was still pretty ground-breaking and remains among the biggest influences on the slasher genre. While admittedly lacking some of the subtlety, tension, and terror of Halloween, it makes up for it in all out carnage. The kills are brutal and entertaining, and there is a reason why it has become one of the beloved and successful franchises in horror history. By no means a perfect movie, there is no way this was one of the worst movies out there.
1 Aerosmith Getting Nominated for Worst Original Song with “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon
Buena Vista Pictures
Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” is a stone-cold classic. This rock ballad has remained a staple of weddings and late-night bar sing-a-longs for over two decades. The song was a huge hit around the world, and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. Interestingly, the Razzies were not so impressed and nominated it for Worst Original Song in stark contrast to the Academy Awards’ decision. Maybe a little too cheesy and melodramatic for them? Armageddon was a little cheesy and melodramatic, to be fair, and the song fits it perfectly. You have to have a heart of stone not to feel some kind of emotion when Steven Tyler of Aerosmith croons the title lyrics, though it wasn’t the right kind of emotions for those at the Razzies.
