March 08, 2009

Though we hear of the best, what about the worst? That’s the same question John Wilson asked himself and in 1981 he created the Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies), an annual ceremony dedicated to celebrate the worst in Hollywood. It is intended to counterpoint the Academy Awards by honouring (or dishonouring) the worst acting, screenwriting, songwriting, directing, and films that the film industry had to offer.

Bill Cosby, Tom Selleck, Paul Verhoeven, Tom Green, Ben Affleck, and Halle Berry are just some of the stars who have come up to accept the awards in person, and nearly all of them have done so with much vigor and enthusiasm, unlike many of their fellow thespians, writers and directors, who totally ignore even the existence of the awards.

But the Razzies are persistent. Each year, they host the awards in a modest ceremony, attended by people of the press mostly. And this year was no different, while we saw Slumdog Millionaire sweep aside The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre just a day before the Oscars, the 29th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards were handed out. And this year, it was The Love Guru that was the worst of them all.

Worst picture: The Love Guru

There’s no doubt about it, Mike Myers’ attempt to create another character after Austin Powers fell flat on its face.

Worst actor: Mike Myers in The Love Guru

Although Mike Myers established himself as a sort of character actor, this Razzie surely proved otherwise.

Worst actress: Paris Hilton in The Hottie and the Nottie

Socialite Paris Hilton is clearly better at doing nothing than acting.

Worst supporting actor: Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia!

If you’ve seen the film, then you’d realise that Brosnan clearly made a mistake. Though he had enough of being a spy, becoming the co-star in a musical based on Abba was clearly not a good idea.

Worst supporting actress: Paris Hilton in Repo! The Genetic Opera

Two Razzies for Paris have clearly sealed her fate as a proper actress, but knowing Hollywood we haven’t seen the last of Miss Hilton yet.

Worst screen couple: Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore in The Hottie and the Nottie

Just goes to show that either coupling wasn’t good enough to save this film.

Worst director: Uwe Boll for the 1968 Tunnel Rats, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale and Postal

Uwe Boll is a director from Germany and is notorious for making films about videogames. Actually, to put it more clearly, he is notorious for making ‘bad’ movies about videogames.

Worst screenplay: The Love Guru written by Mike Myers & Graham GordyThough Myers is an alumni writer from Saturday Night Live and the Austen Powers films, his flair for writing is clearly fading away.

Worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

There can be no doubt that Indy’s last outing left a bad taste with everyone who saw it. Granted it was filled with adventure, but watching a geriatric archeologist’s computer-generated body double jump around from place to place didn’t fare well with cinema goers.

Worst career achievement: Uwe Boll (Germanys answer to Ed Wood)

Uwe Boll is such a bad director that he has been honoured with a prestigious award for worst career achievement, and being ranked right up (or down?) there with Ed Wood as one of the worst directors of our time.

The Razzies are a refreshing award show, clearly showing us that not everything that glitters on the silver screen is worthy of Oscar gold.