In coronavirus quarantine? Steer clear of these Razzies award-winning films
Australian actress Rebel Wilson in Cats, which didn't fare well at this year's Razzies. Photo: IMDb
The annual Golden Raspberry Awards (known as Razzies on the streets) honours the very worst cinema has to offer and this year, Cats was the pick of the litter.
If you’ve never heard of them, the Razzies were created in 1980 as an antidote to Hollywood’s awards season.
Nominees and winners are voted for online by more than 1000 members from more than two dozen countries, who sign up online and pay a $40 membership fee.
The nominees were announced the day before the Oscars (you know, the awards Hollywood *actually* cares about) and now the winners have finally been announced.
Here’s how everything fared:
With six wins, Cats was by far the worst movie of 2019
Cats starred some big names: Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden, Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo and Ian McKellen were among them.
But even an A-list cast costumed in digitally produced fur couldn’t save the movie musical from dominating the Razzies as the worst movie of 2019. Who would have thought?
In the end, the big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit stage show of the same name won six Razzies.
- Worst film
- Worst supporting actress (Rebel Wilson)
- Worst supporting actor (James Corden)
- Worst screenplay (Tom Hooper and Lee Hall)
- Worst director (Tom Hooper)
- Worst screen combo.
Ian McKellen is a long way from Middle Earth
John Travolta was the worst actor, yet again
In the 40 years the Razzies have run, John Travolta has been nominated for the worst actor award seven times and has won twice.
Travolta sits behind only Sylvester Stallone, Adam Sandler and Kevin Costner for the most worst actor awards – Stallone with 15 nominations and four wins, Sandler with 11 nominations and three wins, and Costner with seven nominations and three wins.
The last time Travolta won the Razzie for worst actor was in 2000 for Battlefield Earth and Lucky Numbers (whatever they are).
This year, Travolta won the honours for The Fanatic and Trading Paint (again, whatever they are).
Rebel wasn’t the worst actress, but she was still up there
Rebel Wilson, of Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids and – as most Australians would know – The Wedge fame, was nominated for worst actress for The Hustle, co-starring Anne Hathaway.
But our Rebel wasn’t the worst of these nominees because that honour went to former Lizzie McGuire actor Hillary Duff.
Lizzie McGuire had a good run.
Duff took the honours for portraying Sharon Tate in the horror thriller The Haunting of Sharon Tate.
And just because we couldn’t let that reference to The Wedge go without a trip down memory lane…
We *really* didn’t need another Rambo sequel
Rambo: Last Blood got eight Razzie nominations this year, including worst picture and worst actor (sorry Sylvester).
In the end, it won two Razzies for worst remake, rip-off or sequel and worst reckless disregard for human life and public property.
It’s the fifth Rambo sequel to the 1982 original First Blood (just in case you were wondering where the 2019 version got its name).
With Stallone now 73 years old, Last Blood was sold as the franchise’s final instalment.
Overall, it did about the same as the previous 2008 sequel, making $19 million in ticket sales during the opening weekend.
Eddie Murphy found redemption
He once won the Razzie trifecta by taking out the worst actor, supporting actor and supporting actress awards in a single year for the 2007 movie Norbit.
Now, Eddie Murphy has redeemed himself.
Not much can make you forget Cats, but maybe Norbit will help
Murphy won the Redeemer Razzie for Dolemite Is My Name (available for your quarantine viewing on Netflix).
The redeemer award is given to a past Razzie award nominee who has “become a respected artist”.