Sadly, gone are the good ole’ days of Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, among a host of other notoriously funny films, masterminded by Adam Sandler. Despite his successful run , it seems that even Sandler couldn’t pull a white rabbit out of the hat in Jack and Jill. Considered “one of the worst films ever made,” Sandler took a leaf out of Eddie Murphy’s book, playing both the male and female twins.
You’d think that serious actors like Al Pacino would swat away a proposal to appear in such a film, but hey, there are things we will never understand. While a little of Pacino’s star power might have drawn in a few weary cinema-goers, this movie was nothing short of catastrophic. Of twelve nominated Razzie awards, it won ten!
2013: Movie 43
So when we went to do our research to back up Movie 43 being awarded the Golden Raspberry for 2014, it was Catherine Shoard’s headline that caught our eye: “Movie 43: why did so many Hollywood stars sign up for the humiliation?” We read no further on Google’s results – this article summed it up quite nicely.
With stars such as Halle Berry, Kate Winslet, and Aussie heartthrob Hugh Jackman, Hollywood was almost certain they’d hit a home run. Think again. With fourteen different storylines, they were certainly going for an Orson Welles type approach, however, it backfired, and that’s why the greats stay great!
2012: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Surprisingly, this is the only Twilight saga film to have been awarded a Golden Raspberry. It makes sense though – it’s the final installment, and how many films with sequels do you know where the sequel is just as good as the first? Not saying that the first film was amazing…unless you’re a 13-year-old fantasy fiction reader or a 45-year-old “cool mom.” Oh yeah, we went there.
Despite being awarded the Razzie for 2012, it actually rated on Rotten Tomatoes. Critically speaking, it actually did better than Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and we think it’s owing to the fact it was indeed the last film in the franchise. The metaphorical final nail in the coffin.
2010: The Last Airbender
Despite a cult following and a lot of hype leading up to its release, there were just a few small problems. For example, the fact that directors were trying to hire white actors to play characters written to be East Asian and even Inuit. Talk about controversial. The fans definitely didn’t like that, even if all they wanted was to see their graphic novels come to life on the big screen.
Following these glaring issues and the ensuing fan revolt, it’s unsurprising that this film was awarded the Golden Raspberry for 2010. With a sadly low 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert, an esteemed critic, salutes the film with the comment: “it was an agonizing experience in every category I can think of.”
2009: Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Babes, blasts, and BS – that pretty much sums up 2009’s Razzie winner. Directed by none other than Michael Bay, it’s no surprise that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the hyped-up sequel to the world’s first look at the Transformers franchise. Where the first one actually had a storyline, the sequel was somewhat lacking in the imagination department.
CGI fights, Megan Fox in shorts, deception, Autobots, and end credits. Sorry for the spoilers, but we just saved you a $15 movie ticket. Sure, we were underwhelmed, but the critics were a little more verbal about it, as Empire writer Nick de Semlyen comments “a super-sized second helping, but the novelty factor and some of the charm’s gone..." Don’t say we didn’t tell you!