13 Times The Razzies Got It Wrong


Just as the Oscars are for the year's best in cinema, the Golden Raspberry Awards (otherwise known as the Razzies) announce the worst of the industry's efforts of the past 365 days. The Oscars' ugly cousin often faces controversy and backlash for its mean-spiritedness, and there have been recent calls for it to end, per Independent, despite it only intending to exist in the name of satire and good fun. The 2024 nominations included superhero movies like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as well as the mock awards-sweeper Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, but it's not always genre films that score backhanded nominations.






Art is subjective — one man’s trash is another man’s treasure — and that could be applied to the appreciation of movies. There are some movies and performances throughout history that have been universally panned, and those are most often a shoe in for a Razzie nomination. That’s not to say that the parody award show doesn’t always get it right. There have been times when movies have been ahead of their time and reappraised over time, in which hindsight would have been a wonderful gift. Other times, the Razzies just sometimes miss the mark. Here are 13 examples of when they flat out got it wrong.



Updated June 30, 2023: If you are a fan of the Razzies, you're in luck. This article has been updated by Ben Hathaway with even more times the Razzies got it wrong with their nominations.







13 Road House Being Nominated for Worst Picture




Is the original Road House cheesy? Sure, but what's wrong with a movie knowing what it wants to be and just going for it? That's what Road House is, a movie that wants to be a rollicking, likable adventure that succeeds on every front. It's not meant to be taken seriously, but apparently the Razzies felt it should have been.



You Leave Road House Alone, Razzies... Both of Them


Everyone involved in Road House's construction seemed to know exactly what they were doing, which makes its numerous nominations all the more surprising. When it comes to Worst Picture, the other nominees (Worst Picture "winner" Star Trek V, The Karate Kid Part III, Lock Up, and Speed Zone) fail even when it comes to possessing a sense of fun. As for Patrick Swayze's nomination for Worst Actor, there was no other working actor at the time who could have played James Dalton better, or as well.






12 Brian De Palma Getting Nominated for Worst Director for Scarface




By this point, the Hitchcock-esque Brian De Palma is considered one of the great directors. Not quite Scorsese, Fincher, or Spielberg-level, but not that far from them, either. Yet, the Razzies' voters have never quite considered themselves in his corner. The director of the masterful Blow Out has been nominated for Worst Director five times, and yet only one of those movies was also nominated for Worst Picture.






The Razzies Showing an Odd Bias


First was for his Psycho rip-off Dressed to Kill, which is far from a terrible film. Then Scarface, which is beloved for good reason as it's one of the best crime epics of the '80s or any other decade. Then he was nominated for his bizarre take on Rear Window, Body Double, a nomination which he didn't deserve as much as he didn't deserve one for Dressed to Kill. The last two were for The Bonfire of the Vanities (the one nominated for Worst Picture) and Mission to Mars. As for the latter duo...fair enough. But, Scarface? No way. It wouldn't be what it is without De Palma the same way it wouldn't be what it is without Oliver Stone's script or Al Pacino's bombastic lead performance.





11 All the "Wins" for Rambo: First Blood Part II (Especially for James Cameron's Screenplay)


Rambo: First Blood Part II
Rambo: First Blood Part II

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is doing hard time in jail when his former boss, Col. Troutman (Richard Crenna), offers him a deal. If Rambo travels to Vietnam to try to find the American prisoners of war, his criminal record will be expunged. Rambo takes the reconnaissance assignment and agrees not to get involved in any of the action. However, when his Vietnamese lover, Co Bao (Julia Nickson), is killed by American forces, Rambo forgets his promise and takes matters into his own hands.

Release Date
May 21, 1985
Director
George P. Cosmatos
Runtime
94





The oddly-titled Rambo: First Blood Part II was nominated for seven of the 6th Golden Raspberry Awards' ten total categories, and while a few could be considered fair, not all of them were. It "won" a total of four, and on the fair side there's its Worst Original Song "win" for "Peace in Our Life." But Worst Picture? The same year's fellow Sylvester Stallone-led nominee, Rocky IV, is worse, as are the other nominees Fever Pitch, Revolution, and Year of the Dragon. Stallone also "won" Worst Actor for both Rambo and the fourth Rocky, which is odd considering John Travolta was also nominated for Perfect, a movie which absolutely deserved the Worst Picture nomination. Then there's its win for Worst Screenplay.



Is There a More Quotable Action Movie Screenplay?


"To survive war, you gotta become war." "Sir, do we get to win this time?" "I'm expendable... It's like someone invites you to a party and you don't show up. It doesn't really matter." Those lines all hold some sort of clout in the action movie-loving community, and for good reason. It's a movie that knows exactly what it wants to be, and swings for the fences. The same could be said for the other two movies James Cameron (who co-penned with Stallone) was writing at the time: Aliens.






10 Jim Carrey Getting Nominated for Worst New Star




1994 marks one of the greatest breakthrough years for an actor in Hollywood history, when Jim Carrey appeared in Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. All three were huge commercial hits and set the foundations for his career to come, which saw the actor becoming among the most celebrated and highest paid actors of the '90s, who continued to act in a plethora of memorable roles over the decades to come.



There Are No Fans of Rubberfaced Comedy at the Razzies


Despite all three movies still being considered among Carrey's best work to this day, the big wigs at the Razzies weren’t so impressed and felt that his work on those movies qualified him for a nomination for Worst New Star. Maybe if he had debuted with Yes Man and Mr. Poppers Penguins we could rightfully talk turkey. That said, the original Ace Ventura has aged... not well.




Composite of Winnie the Pooh and Sylvester Stallone with a Razzie Award
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9 Bruce Willis Having His Own Category in 2021




Far from his heyday as one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes, starring in Hollywood’s biggest movies including Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, Armageddon, and a later, more dramatic role in The Sixth Sense, towards the end of his career, Bruce Willis was churning out dozens of straight to streaming movies that admittedly lacked a lot of the artistic merit that he’d been previously known for. In 2021, he starred in a whopping eight movies, all of which were critically panned, with particular criticism being aimed at Willis for appearing to just "phone in" his performances as news spread of him having to have lines fed to him via an earpiece.




The Razzies Ended Up Showing Respect


The Razzies picked up on this and decided to create an entire category specifically for "Worst Performance from Bruce Willis," making it certain that he would win a Razzie that year. It was later revealed that Willis is suffering from a language disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate. This not only explained Willis’ change in acting ability, but also his reasons for accepting the roles he was offered. Thankfully, after learning of his diagnosis, the awards board decided to retract the decision, stating, “If someone's medical condition is a factor in their decision-making and/or their performance, we acknowledge that it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie,” (via US Magazine).





8 Stanley Kubrick Getting Nominated for Worst Director for The Shining





Visionary director Stanley Kubrick suffered from being ahead of his time, and nothing exemplifies this better than his work on The Shining, a 1980 psychological horror starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. At the time of its release, the reviews were mixed, with many criticizing its slow pacing, something rarely seen in the horror genre at the time.



Time Has Been Kind to the Director


It has since been reappraised and is now widely considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time and has had a huge influence on the genre. Failing to see The Shining as the classic it later became, Kubrick was nominated for Worst Director for his work on the project. Needless to say, he is now considered one of the greatest directors to have lived, with The Shining being arguably his finest work. It's just one of several nominations (on this list alone) that didn't make sense at the Razzie's very first ceremony.








7 Shelley Duvall Getting Nominated for Worst Actress in The Shining




As explained above, The Shining is now considered one of the all-time greatest horror movies, and while reactions to Jack Nicholson’s performance were generally positive, they were a bit more hit or miss for Shelley Duvall. The Razzies' decision to nominate her for Worst Actress was probably based on her often over the top portrayal of a woman in a constant state of fear and shock in the latter half of the movie.






Kubrick's Methods Weren't Duvall's Fault


While Kubrick has since been lauded as one of Hollywood’s finest directors, his methods haven’t always been so positively received. In particular, it has later transpired that his treatment of Duvall on the set of The Shining was particularly poor. In an attempt to go method, he tried to make the on-screen horror a reality by keeping his lead actress in a constant state of panic by berating and alienating her on set. Having learned of the toxic conditions surrounding her performance, Razzies co-founder Mo Murphy has stated, when talking about the nomination, “Knowing the backstory and the way that Stanley Kubrick kind of pulverized her, I would take that back.”





6 The Thing Getting Nominated for Worst Score







Like The Shining, The Thing is another horror movie that, at the time of its release, received mixed reviews, but has since gone onto be reappraised and is now considered a classic of the genre. Directed by John Carpenter, who often scores his own movies, this time around Ennio Morricone (best known for the iconic score to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) was hired to provide the score, which was dark, brooding, and atmospheric.



The Thing Has a Great Score


It was the perfect accompaniment to a perfect movie. Apparently, the Razzies didn’t see it that way and nominated it for Worst Score, a mistake that must still haunt them to this day. The Thing being nominated for Worst anything was and remains baffling, considering the love for the film now.





5 Adam Sandler Getting Nominated for Worst Actor for Bulletproof and Happy Gilmore







Adam Sandler's unique brand of irreverent, often juvenile, humor is certainly not for everyone. There are lots and lots of people who like him, but the minds behind the Razzies are definitely not among those people. In fact, Sandler has been nominated for a whopping 37 awards and won nine times, beaten only by Sylvester Stallone.



Sandler Was in Prime Form in the '90s


Sandler has definitely made some questionable movies (Jack and Jill, anyone?), but the '90s, by Sandler’s standards, was quite possibly his best decade. Happy Gilmore is considered by many to be among his best comedy work, and Bulletproof was a fairly inoffensive buddy comedy. Is Bulletproof required viewing for comedy fans? Nope, but Happy Gilmore is, and that's for non-Sandler fans as much as it's for those who love him.



Firestarter-2022
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4 Sylvester Stallone Winning Worst Actor of the Century




At the 20th Golden Raspberry Awards, iconic action star Sylvester Stallone was given the event’s biggest (dis)honor of being awarded with the award for the Worst Actor of the Century “for 99.5% of everything he’s EVER done.” Sure, Stallone has made some duds, and he perhaps doesn’t have the biggest range when it comes to acting, but he’s certainly made some classics over the years.



Stallone Is Behind Iconic Characters


He took that eponymous character in Rocky and made it his own, he kicked some serious ass in Rambo, and he was definitely fun to watch in Demolition Man, Cliffhanger and even Tango and Cash. Surely, there is a more worthy actor out there? Pauly Shore, for instance. Or some other answer that isn't as accurate as Pauly Shore.






3 Danny DeVito Being Nominated for Worst Supporting Actor for Batman Returns




Batman Returns remains one of the greatest entries in the Batman franchise and Danny DeVito's portrayal of the Penguin is one of the movie’s most memorably parts. Unlike anything we’d seen from the actor before, DeVito, thanks to a lot of prosthetics and make-up, completely transformed into the hideously disfigured villain.



A Really Bizarre Razzie Nomination


Not only was the physical transformation great, but DeVito fully committed to the role in terms of acting, and injected just enough humor to make the otherwise repulsive character a real treat to watch. And, let’s face it: compared to some of the villains in the next couple of Batman movies, it probably deserves an Oscar.






2 Friday the 13th Being Nominated for Worst Movie




Despite being released after The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a year after Halloween, Friday the 13th was still pretty ground-breaking and remains among the biggest influences on the slasher genre. While admittedly lacking some of the subtlety, tension, and terror of Halloween, it makes up for it in all-out carnage. And the emphasis should be on the some there, because Friday the 13th absolutely knows how to be tense. Just look at the death scene of Kevin Bacon's Jack.






Friday the 13th Is an All-Time Classic Slasher


The kills are brutal and entertaining, and there is a reason why Friday the 13th has become one of the beloved and successful franchises in horror history. By no means a perfect movie, there is no way this was one of the worst movies out there. It was just an example of the Razzies (in their first ceremony ever) jumping on a critical hate bandwagon. There's a reason it's brought up in the same conversation as its still-more respected brethren to this day, while He Knows You're Alone and The Funhouse (both solid slashers in their own right) are not.





1 Aerosmith Getting Nominated for Worst Original Song with "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" from Armageddon


armageddon


Aerosmith’s "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" is a stone-cold classic. This rock ballad has remained a staple of weddings and late-night bar sing-a-longs for over two decades. The song was a huge hit around the world, and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. Interestingly, the Razzies were not so impressed and nominated it for Worst Original Song in stark contrast to the Academy Awards’ decision.




The Razzies Closed Their Eyes and Fell Asleep


Maybe a little too cheesy and melodramatic for them? Armageddon was a little cheesy and melodramatic, to be fair, and the song fits it perfectly. You have to have a heart of stone not to feel some kind of emotion when Steven Tyler of Aerosmith croons the title lyrics, though it wasn’t the right kind of emotion for those at the Razzies. Perhaps it's because Tyler is crooning to his own daughter's love scene.



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