Razzie time has happened again, and just like last year's Golden Raspberry Awards I had to write a review piece on it. As 2020 was a infamously bad year, it only made sense that the films nominated were even worse than usual. Due to certain callings-out I had to make here, the editing process took longer than it would have done normally.
I'll also note that some of these films had particularly problematic topics that I will be ranting about at various points in this article, something that did not happen with my previous Razzie review. Trigger warnings include sex trafficking and botched portrayals of autism, so if you're the type who gets wound up over stuff like this, I don't blame you at all.
Worst Picture - Absolute Proof.
This is the category that filmmakers really want to stay clear of, as it pretty much serves as a damnation of your film in general. This year's "hopeful" nominees were the utterly tasteless 365 Days, the pro-Trump "documentary" Absolute Proof, Robert Downey Jr.'s mediocre take on the Doctor Dolittle mythos with Dolittle, the "dark and gritty" Fantasy Island reimagining and the cliché-ridden and insensitive "autism musical" Music.
I would have chosen 365 Days to be the "winner" of this category, due to not only its disgusting plot, but the immense amount of backlash surrounding its release on Netflix. The Razzie Committee themselves chose Absolute Proof, which makes it the second ever "documentary" film to win after the laughably bad Hilary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party. It's quite likely that political views held by the Razzies and the recent controversy of the storming of the Capitol may have had an influence on its win over 365 Days, but it's still downright terrible. Like Hilary's America, it pretends to be a documentary but is more like extreme right-wing propaganda that capitalises on absurd conspiracies that likely never happened, such as Chinese cyberterrorists rigging the elections.
Yep, it's laughably bad alright, and the "mastermind" behind it Mike Linnell (best known as the "My Pillow Guy") made an absolute fool out of himself as a result by snagging this "prestigious" award. It's not a film you should watch if you want to watch an actual documentary, but it may be something to consider if you're the type of person who gets a laugh out of mocking bad movies.
Worst Director - Sia for Music.
A bad vision is often the cause of a bad movie and these directors should know. Both 365 Days directors Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes were nominated, along with Stephen Gaghan for Dolittle, singer Sia for her directorial debut Music and Ron Howard (in a surprise twist, considering that he has normally done much better) for Hillbilly Elegy. A certain Charles Band was also nominated for the three Barbie & Kendra movies (Corona Zombies, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King and Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51), which somehow managed to get made and released in the same year despite being based on events in the same year. Probably explains the trilogy's bad quality.
In this case, Sia's first film that she directed ultimately netted her her first Razzie. The whole film is yet another case of something trying to be Oscar bait and failing miserably - a recovering drug addict played by someone known for their good looks finds herself having to be the guardian of someone with autism (who is actually played by a neurotypical actor) and is "changed" by the experience. Of course, rather than it gaining Oscars, instead people rightfully tore into it for its stereotypical depiction of autism. I also remember seeing some of the music numbers and they did not really connect with me to say the least.
I'm now going to have to unleash some salt here. I already had issues with the way autism is normally depicted in the media, but I guess my autism diagnosis back in 2017 has made me even more weary of its depiction. Look, if you're going to make a film focusing on autism, do the proper research. Why are you casting your prized neurotypical dancer from your music videos as a legitimately autistic girl? Why are there restrainers being used? WHO DID YOU HIRE TO AID IN THE RESEARCH?! I get the feeling Sia hasn't had any close experience with autistic people herself, otherwise the film would have been slightly more accurate and slightly less offensive.
I'm sure that there are other singers that have gone into a directing career, but Sia was not a successful example, should we say. Maybe she should just stick to directing her normal music videos rather than a feature-length one - at least they mainly feature dancing rather than botched depictions of disabilities.
Worst Lead Actor - Mike "My Pillow Guy" Lindell as himself in Absolute Proof.
There was quite a solid list of terrible actors for this year's category. To my complete lack of surprise, Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Dolittle in his role of Dr. John Dolittle, in what was basically another case of an American actor pretending to be British and failing big time. Other nominees were Mike Lindell (a.k.a. My Pillow Guy) as himself in Absolute Proof, Michele Morrone as Don Massimo Torricelli in 365 Days and David Spade as Tim Morris in The Wrong Missy. And then of course no Razzie ceremony would be complete without Adam Sandler being nominated, this time for his role as simple manchild (so basically every role he seems to play) Hubie Dubois in Hubie Halloween.
I'm honestly surprised that Lindell didn't get nominated for Worst Director along with the other guy who was helping him (maybe he should have replaced Ron Howard in the nominees list), but he did win this category. I doubt he really saw himself as "acting" in the film though, considering that he intended Absolute Proof to be a documentary. But as mentioned earlier, the whole thing comes across as fake anyway.
I would have probably chosen Michele Morrone, though mainly because of him playing a horrendous role that I cannot sympathise with and trying to defend his role in 365 Days. So in a way, I'm probably just letting my own views influence my choices as well. Either way, both of their roles come across as equally unpleasant. I also suspect that plenty of people were expected Downey Jr. to win due to being so ill-cast for his role, but at least it wasn't as insulting as the other two roles mentioned in this paragraph.
Worst Lead Actress - Kate Hudson as Kazu "Zu" Gamble in Music.
Quite a few leading ladies were on the chopping block this year. Whilst there was sadly no sign of Liu Yifei for her drippy and bland portrayal of the titular Mulan, they did have Anne Hathaway for her role as Elena McMahon in The Last Thing He Wanted and especially her role as the Grand High Witch in the new film adaptation of The Witches. Anjelica Huston she ain't. Katie Holmes was also nominated for two roles as Liza in Brahms: The Boys II and Miranda Wells in The Secret: Dare to Dream, and other unwitting nominees included Kate Hudson as Kazu "Zu" Gamble in Music, Lauren Lapkus as Missy in The Wrong Missy and Anna-Marie Sieklucka as Laura Biel in 365 Days.
It was quite surprising when Hudson ended up being deemed the worst actress of the bunch. After all, plenty of critics seemed to rate her performance and she even got nominated for a Golden Globe for it. Personally, I thought Hathaway was pretty pathetic in the new Witches film myself (there are more problems with that film, but I'll save that for another blog post). Even if she had a hairstyle that matched the book version more closely, rather than the blonde perm she had for some reason in this movie, her performance would still not match up with the spectacular performance Huston gave in the same role in the first film adaptation.
I have a theory why Hudson flopped with the Razzie committee though. Everything about her performance just screams "Oscar bait". She's an actress currently known for pappy "chick flicks" and rom-coms (despite her award-winning debut in Almost Famous) who often plays bubbly blonde women, and now she's been cast as a recovering drug addict whose time spent with an autistic character "changes" her for the better. She's even shaved off her famous gold locks for the role. Essentially, it's what any actress does when they want to be taken "seriously" by the Oscars, and the Razzies saw through it right away.
Considering the inclusion of both Hudson and Hathaway in this year's Razzies and the ultimate outcome, it's safe to say that Hathway probably won the "bride wars" over Hudson in the end. Actually thinking about that, don't watch Bride Wars at all. It's just as atrocious as this movie.
Worst Supporting Actor - Rudy Giuliani as himself in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
An interesting category this year. Former New York mayor and current Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani was the main highlight in this category for his embarrassing cameo as him in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, an otherwise well-received sequel to the original Borat movie. Other nominees include Chevy Chase as Chevy (essentially playing himself) in the bizarre Paul Hogan vehicle The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, Shia LaBeouf as Creeper in The Tax Collector and Arnold Schwarzeneggar as James Hook in Iron Mask. Furthermore, Bruce Willis was actually nominated for three roles - Clay Young in Breach, Donovan Chalmers in Hard Kill and Frank Clark in Survive the Night.
To possibly nobody's surprise, Giuliani won this one. What makes his role so absurd though is that he didn't even know that he was appearing in the Borat movie! He was told that he was doing an interview for something, only for it to be revealed to be part of a mockumentary. You'd think that he would have known of Borat by now before doing the interview. I'd say that the other nominees were actually acting in their films (albeit terribly) whilst Giuliani was essentially tricked, but let's be real hear, do we even remember the other nominees and their roles?
Worst Supporting Actress - Maddie Ziegler as Music Gamble in Music.
There were three unsurprising nominations in this category this year, and then two genuinely surprising nominations. The two Fantasy Island actresses Lucy Hale (playing Melanie Cole) and Maggie Q (playing Gwen Olsen) were expected and Maggie Ziegler was absolutely dreadful in Music as the titular character. However, Kristen Wiig had received some praise from critics as Barbara Minerva (a.k.a. Cheetah) in Wonder Woman 1984 (maybe it was the makeup job at the end that spoilt it, like with Judi Dench in Cats) and Glenn Close was actually nominated for an Oscar for her role in Hillbilly Elegy as Bonnie "Mamaw" Vance.
Anyway, the last two have nothing to worry about as the "prize" rightfully went to Ziegler in the end. I don't care about the "excuse" Sia made on her Twitter for casting her over an actual autistic actor, it's most likely that she only cast her because of her appearing in her music videos in the past. I am absolutely fed up with movies that provide a stereotypical depiction of autism or exploit the irritating "inspirationally disadvantaged" trope. Heck, I'm just going to come right out and admit that Forrest Gump annoyed the hell out of me with its autism depiction as well, despite that fact that everyone acts like it's one of the greatest films ever and it won a shit-tonne of awards.
Ziegler's role in the film is basically what Kirk Lazarus, funnily enough also portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., from Tropic Thunder (awesome movie) deemed as the wrong way of going about it. It's the female equivalent of Sean Penn's performance in I Am Sam. It's mainly her either pulling absurd facial expressions or appearing as blank as possible - that's not playing an autistic person, that's just insulting them. And we all know what Lazarus also warned us about that sort of thing. You don't win Oscars for going "full-on" when portraying an autistic person - as Willy Wonka himself one said, you win NOTHING!
Hopefully next time somebody decides to make another film on autism, they hire an actual autistic actor in order to add more diversity and authenticity to the film business. Also to avoid another embarrassing incident like this one again.
Worst Screen Combo - Rudy Giuliani and his pants zipper in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
It's the return of the best category of the Razzies. Not only are there the actor combos such as Maria Bakalova and Rudy Giuliani in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Lauren Lapkus and David Spade in The Wrong Missy, but there are the voice combos of Robert Downey Jr. and his "utterly unconvincing "Welsh" accent" in Dolittle and Adam Sander and his "grating simpleton voice" in Hubie Halloween, as well as the combo of Harrison Ford and "that totally fake-looking CGI "dog"" in The Call of the Wild.
At the last minute it seems, the "prize" was given to Giuliani and...his pants zipper. No sign of Bakalova at all. It's quite likely because (1) the zipper scene was that infamous and (2) Bakalova was actually really good in the film. Again, whether he can be counted as an "actor" is questionable due to him not realising what he was actually starring in, but...yeah. It doesn't matter which combo involving Giuliani we're talking about here, the scene and interactions were extremely cringeworthy. Besides, a screen combo is about chemistry, which Giuliani certainly lacked, both with woman and zipper.
Worst Screenplay - 365 Days.
The Worst Screenplay list is almost the same as the Worst Picture list, with 365 Days, Dolittle and Fantasy Island returning. However, Absolute Proof and Music are the exceptions - instead, the two nominations for this category in their place are all three of the Barbie & Kendra movies grouped together (again) and Hillbilly Elegy.
Anyway, 365 Days finally gets an "award"! I could not be any more relieved about that, especially since that was the film I mainly wanted to win Worst Picture. Fifty Shades of Grey, which this film is deemed to be the Polish rip-off of, comes across as actually somewhat more tasteful in comparison. Despite it being an awful depiction of bondage and yet another glamorisation of sexual abuse, Anastacia Steele was specifically working as Christian Grey's secretary. With 365 Days however, Torricelli is a sex trafficker and Biel is a woman that he abducted.
Let me just point out that sex trafficking is not an "exciting" way to escape a "boring" and "dreary" life, despite what the film wants you to believe. It is a genuinely nasty experience that can leave victims suffering PTSD and other unpleasant mental health issues. The story of Welsh singer Duffy, who is one of the many people who openly criticised this "cinematic" garbage, is just one of the many examples of the realities of sex trafficking. I'm just as confused as to why Netflix was willing to keep it on its website in the first place considering the themes and the backlash towards them. Some people even cancelled their Netflix subscriptions as a result.
Oh, and for added bad news, the book that this is based on is actually the first in a trilogy. Just like the Fifty Shades trilogy then. Let's hope that there isn't a book told from the sex trafficker's point of view. Or any film adaptations of the sequels, for that matter.
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off Or Sequel - Dolittle.
I honestly think that the Mulan remake should have been on the shortlist. It butchered the original film it was based on, was utterly insensitive to Chinese culture, made Mulan a character with less agency and had a one-dimensional villain. That said, there were some pretty cringeworthy alternatives on the list that make it look tame in comparison - mainly 365 Days (Polish Fifty Shades of Grey), Dolittle (based on the Doctor Dolittle books), Fantasy Island (based on the TV show of the same name) and Hubie Halloween (classified as a rip-off of Ernest Scared Stupid). I was surprised though that Wonder Woman 1984 was on the list too, considering that reception of it was simply mixed rather than negative, and I highly suspect it was because the previous film did so well and its sequel was an extremely disappointing follow-up in comparison. Let's also not forget that dreadful scene at the end that comes across as glorified rape. At least Mulan doesn't have THAT.
Dolittle ultimately won this category. Mediocre in most aspects, and downright ridiculous in others. It's basically meant to be some sort of origin story for our favourite doctor who can talk to animals, only he's really cut up about his wife's death and some generic kid protagonist has to convince him to snap out of his funk in order to save Queen Victoria. Hey, at least the musical flop featuring "Tyrannosaurus" Rex Harrison captured the spirit of the original books decently and had some catchy songs. This one is just yet another one of those more "serious" reimaginings, only this time it cannot make out whether it's truly a drama or a comedy.
The worst part here is that some critics pointed out that there was already an interesting plot occurring between Dolittle and his wife, and then the filmmakers fridged her in order to give him angst and some random kid the chance to "save" him. And let's be honest, the fridging trope has been happening a lot throughout the past few years. Maybe they should have kept the wife alive after all. It would have made a different experience to the one we got in the end.
Special Governors' Award For The Worst Calendar Year EVER! - 2020.
No Razzie Redeemer Awards this year, but a special one was given out to 2020 for being the "worst calendar year EVER". Honestly, deeming it the worst year ever is a bit of a stretch - 2016 was a infamously shitty year with the presidential elections and Brexit being voted for, and let's not forget any year in which the World Wars took place. But yeah, it was a crappy year alright, even if there was some hope at the end of it with this year's presidential elections going well (though the storming of the Capitol this year was a shocking and uncalled-for end to the election period). First there was the threat of World War III, then more Brexit talk, then the arrival of the COVID-19 virus and then the death of George Floyd and other black people at the hands of corrupt police. So whilst it may not necessarily be the worst year of all time, it's definitely one of them.
So that's it for this year's Razzie Awards review. A few of the winners I feel were chosen due to political opinions, but then again, they were certainly asking to be nominated anyway. Besides, Absolute Proof is genuinely bad and blatant lies. And it's not like I can distance myself from political views anyway, since I pretty much support the Razzie Committee's political views as well. This also has some of the most offensive films to have been nominated this year, what with a film that glorifies sex trafficking and a failed Oscar bait musical that portrays autism in the most insensitive light possible. Guess the awfulness of 2020 extended to its films as well.
Overall though, a pretty good year for the Razzies as usual and I certainly got some enjoyment (and time to vent on the more offensive movies) writing this review.
