After last year’s rather unfair and lazy list of nominations, the 2012 ‘Razzies’ ceremony (known officially as the Golden Raspberry Awards, the ceremony which highlights the worst films of the past 12 months) has grabbed headlines by awarding every single category to the same film.
I haven’t seen this year’s biggest winner Jack and Jill, which took home Worst Picture, Worst Actor and every other award going. I like to stay clear of anything Adam Sandler deems worth making, in the same way I try to stay clear of violent gangs and salmonella. His films usually indulge in the kind of puerile gutter humour that appeals to those who find The Hangover movies too narratively complex. It’s a shame The Hangover Part II — which was nominated for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel — didn’t take home its award. Sexist, homophobic, and eye-wateringly racist, it was as if director Todd Phillips was trying to see how much hate, discrimination and sleaze he could get into a single movie. It also showed a cynical contempt for its audience by simply recycling the same film all over again, just bigger, lewder and nastier.
Another movie that lost out to Jack and Jill was Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which received Worst Screenplay, Worst Onscreen Couple, Worst Screen Ensemble, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Supporting Actor, and Worst Picture nominations. Like The Hangover Part II, the Transformers series has also done its fair share of damage to society in its attempts to convince 15-year-old boys that women are simply there to leer at. With this third instalment of the obnoxiously brainless let’s-all-watch-robots-wack-each-other franchise, Michael Bay offensively linked the Chernobyl disaster to a clash between warring Transformers, while at the same time practically raping Rosie Huntington-Whitely with a camera lens. Michael Bay’s enthusiasm for pornographic direction either hints at an obsessive private hobby he is unable to leave out of the work place, or a wilful wish to banish any notion of feminism from mainstream cinema. Which is it, Michael? We’re dying to know.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and New Year’s Eve were among the other nominations beaten by Jack and Jill. The most recent Twilight instalment shows how dire and vacuous this series has become. I rather liked the other films in the series, although New Moon was a bit weak; but this fourth picture was dreadful. New Year’s Eve seemed to forget that comedies are supposed to be funny, and not just a catalogue of celebrities spitting out dreadful lines of cheap dialogue while trying not to look embarrassed. Honestly, I’ve seen more convincing acting in The Only Way Is Essex. I would usually condemn all use of mobile phones during a film, but New Year’s Eve did have me Googling the website for Dignitas and comparing prices of flights to Zurich.
As bad as Jack and Jill may have been, it’s a little disappointing that it took every award going. There was so much bad material filling the multiplexes last year, and the Razzies are the awards that dare to stand up to box office drivel. I might have to see Sandler’s film now; I mean, if it’s worse than anything Todd Phillips and Michael Bay could throw at a theatre full of gullible filmgoers, then it really must be bad.
For a full list of the winners (or, rather, losers) visit the official Razzies website.
