The nominees for the 33rd annual Golden Raspberry Awards, popularly known as the Razzies, have been announced. The Razzies claim to be “a logical antidote to Tinsel Town’s annual glut of self-congratulations [created] by John Wilson, author of [[[Everything I Know I Learned at the Movies]]].” After last year’s scheduling switch to April Fool’s Day, this year’s awards ceremony—at which the organizers expect none of the nominees to appear (though they have been surprised in the past)—returns to “Oscar’s Eve”, Saturday 23 February.
In announcing the nominees, The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation said: “Hollywood is reveling in the box office returns for 2012, their biggest money-making year ever. But despite the high-grossing hits, there were way more major misses among the 727 titles released last year – movies based on recycled premises, re-working concepts that were already tired a decade or more ago, and which were the cinematic equivalent of re-treaded tires. Those are the films The Golden Raspberry Awards have been annually dis-honoring since 1980.
“Nominees for the 33rd Annual Razzie Awards, satirizing the Worst Achievements in Film for 2012, include several Repeat Offenders, returning for more pie-in-the-face/light-hearted joshing in the one Tinsel Town trophy derby no one wants to win. Adam Sandler is back, following up his record-setting 2011 Razzie “winner” Jack & Jill with an even more off-putting “family comedy,” That’s My Boy. Focused on a scofflaw dad who fathered (then abandoned) a son with his 7th grade teacher, Boy amassed a total of 8 nominations, including Worst Picture and Worst Actor for Sandler himself – while also grossing about half what Jack & Jill did. But Sandler’s misfire was topped by the final chapter in a franchise which has reliably racked up Razzie nominations year after year: Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (or as Razzie Wags call it, Twilight: S.B.D. #2). The ultimate installment of the inexplicably successful series focuses on Shirtless Werewolf Jacob and his creepy relationship with the daughter of Sparkly Vampire Edward and Gloomy Goth Gal Bella. Together, the four face a final showdown that will determine the fate of Romantic-But-Boring Monsters everywhere. Twilight #5 collected a total of 11 nominations, from only 10 categories. In addition to being up for Worst Picture and earning nominations for all 3 of its principal “actors,” it is also the first film ever to get dual Worst Screen Couple Razzie nods, one for Edward & Bella and one for Jason & the child Renesmee (who share an onscreen relationship fraught with inappropriate overtones). In addition to Twilight S.B.D. #2 and That’s My Boy, Worst Picture nominees for 2012 include: The bazillion-dollar board-game-based box office blunder Battleship, the latest career-killing comedy from Eddie Murphy, A Thousand Words (which spent four years moldering in Paramount’s film vaults before scoring a “Perfect Zero” Rating at RottenTomatoes.com) and the lowest-grossing nationwide release of all time, The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure (which made a microscopic $47 per theatre on its opening night last August).
“For nine of this year’s 10 Razzie categories, contenders were determined by seeking online votes from 647 G.R.A.F. Members in 47 U.S. states and 18 foreign countries. Nominations for the 10th category, Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel, were determined by votes from 48,000 users at the popular movie review website Rotten Tomatoes.com.”
This year’s nominees are:
Worst Picture:
Battleship
The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
That’s My Boy
A Thousand Words
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Worst Actress:
Katherine Heigl (in One for the Money)
Milla Jovovich (in Resident Evil #5: Retribution)
Tyler Perry (in drag, in Madea’s Witless Protection)
Kristen Stewart (in Snow White and The Huntsman and Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Barbra Streisand (in Guilt Trip)
Worst Actor:
Nicholas Cage (in Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance and Seeking Justice)
Eddie Murphy (in A Thousand Words)
Robert Pattinson (in Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Tyler Perry (not in drag, in Alex Cross and Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds)
Adam Sandler (in That’s My Boy)
Worst Supporting Actress:
Jessica Biel (in Playing for Keeps and Total Recall)
Brooklyn Decker (in Battleship and What to Expect When You’re Expecting)
Ashley Green (in Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Jennifer Lopez (in What to Expect When You’re Expecting)
Rihanna (in Battleship)
Worst Supporting Actor:
David Hasselhoff (as “Himself”, in Pirannha 3-DD)
Taylor Lautner (in Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Liam Neeson (in Battleship and Wrath of the Titans)
Nick Swardson (in That’s My Boy)
Vanilla ice (as “Himself”, in That’s My Boy)
Worst Screen Couple:
Any Combination of Two Cast Members from “Jersey Shore” (from The Three Stooges)
Mackenzie Foy (as “Little Renesmee”) & Taylor Lautner (in Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart (in Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Tyler Perry & His Drag Get-Up (in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witless Protection)
Adam Sandler and either Leighton Meester, Andy Samberg, or Susan Sarandon (in That’s My Boy)
Worst Director:
Sean Anders (for That’s My Boy)
Peter Berg (for Battleship)
Bill Condon (for Twilight S.B.D. #2)
Tyler Perry (for Good Deeds and Madea’s Witless Protection)
John Putch (for Atlas Shrugged: Part II)
Worst Screen Ensemble:
The Entire Cast of Battleship
The Entire Cast of The Oogieloves in The Big Balloon Adventure
The Entire Cast of That’s My Boy
The Entire Cast of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
The Entire Cast of Madea’s Witless Protection
Worst Screenplay:
Atlast Shrugged: Part II
Battleship
That’s My Boy
A Thousand Words
Twilight S.B.D. #2
Worst Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel:
Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance
Piranha 3-DD
Red Dawn
Twilight S.B.D. #2
Madea’s Witless Protection