The 32 Annual Razzie Award nominees are in; Adam Sandler sets a record

Everyone in D.C. has their plans ready to watch the 84th Annual Academy Awards tomorrow, where the (supposedly) best films of 2011 will be honored. It’s probably very comforting to us all as a routine. First, we get to see who’s wearing who, and who showed up with who. Then, during the ceremony, we’re all looking forward to Billy Crystal’s opening monologue. We’ll get musical numbers and tepid jokes on behalf of some celebrities. It’s all well and good. When the awards are handed out, most of us only care if our guesses were correct. Some of us have money riding on it. For all the prestige that’s hurled upon it, the Oscars are pretty pointless to the public. It’s more a fun game than an honoring of artists. Festooned in all of its strange pageantry, it was a matter of time before an evil twin would emerge, celebrating the very worst in cinema. In 1980, Oscar unwittingly gave birth the The Golden Raspberry Awards, a tongue-in-cheek celebration of last year’s worst films. Celebrating its 32nd year, the nominations for this year’s Razzie Awards were announced today at 6:00 (PST) at Magicopolis in Santa Monica, California. The venue usually hosts magic shows.

The Golden Raspberry Awards are picked by over 600 voting members. Although film critics and industry insiders get to cast a ballot, the rest of The Golden Raspberry Foundation’s voting membership is made up of regular moviegoers who pay an annual fee to be a part of the festivities. Anyone can become a member by delving out some digital lucre at the Razzie website. The show’s co-owners, Mo Murphy and John Wilson, are purportedly still shopping around their awards show to networks, hoping to air the awards on TV. Spike TV, Logo, Adult Swim or someone…anyone, needs to pick up the show right away. The Razzies always get a lot of press coverage. With good-natured celebrities like Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock showing up to collect their “prize” with a speech, there’s no reason it shouldn’t get a televised airing. Celebrities would have to come, or risk being humiliated even further for not being a good sport.

Just like the Oscars, the Razzie nominations are pretty predictable. You know all the contenders, but you’re never sure who will make the final cut. A list of all 675 films released in 2011 was unfurled that let voting members know which films were eligible for a nomination in this year’s awards. Certain people are mainstays, and will be nominated for whatever they do. The inclusion of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 was a given. But without M. Night Shyamalan and Uwe Boll putting out qualified work this past year, it was looking as if this year’s Razzie nominees would be culled from a wider pool than usual. In a press release from Razzies.com, The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation had this to say:

“With three critically-panned movies released by his Happy Madison Productions, 2011 was A Berry Bad Year for Adam Sandler, who now totally dominates the list of contenders for The 32nd Annual RAZZIE® Awards. Sandler has more than doubled Eddie Murphy's old record for the most nominations accrued by an individual in a single year. As an actor, writer and/or producer on JACK & JILL, BUCKY LARSON and JUST GO WITH IT, the former SNL star has amassed a whopping 11 RAZZIE® nods, dis-honoring last year's Worst Achievements in Film.”

It was a surprise that Razzie favorite Madonna, winner of more Worst Actress nominations than any other woman (and “honored” as Worst Actress of the Century), scraped by this year without so much as a mention for her directorial debut, W.E. Former “winner” Angelina Jolie’s (7 nominations, zero wins) film In the Land of Blood and Honey also staved off the ire of the voting committee. Some other lucky omissions were…The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence), Atlas Shrugged Part 1, The Smurfs, Sucker Punch, Apollo 18, Battle: Los Angeles, Beastly, The Change-up, Conan the Barbarian, The Darkest Hour, The Dilemma, Dream House, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, Gnomeo & Juliet, Hall Pass, The Green Lantern, Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil, Hop, Johnny English Reborn, Joody Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, Larry Crowne, Medea’s Big Happy Family, Mars Needs Moms, Monte Carlo, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Priest, Red Riding Hood, The Roommate, Scream 4, Shark Night 3D, Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World, The Three Musketeers and What’s Your Number?.

This year has got to be the year of Adam Sandler. He deserves it. He has been nominated several times in the past, and he has even won a few. But he has been vastly overlooked by The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. He puts out at least one terrible film every year that always somehow manages to go blockbuster at the box office. His films aren’t funny. He can’t act (and no, Punch-Drunk Love was not good acting) and this year he has had his hand in delivering not one, but three truly awful films into cinemas: Jack and Jill, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and Just Go With It. This year, he has broken a Razzie record in nominations. It’s his time.

The “winners” of the Golden Raspberry will be announced on April Fools’ Day, Sunday, April 1st. Here is the complete list of nominees for the 2011 Razzie Awards:

Worst Film:

Jack and Jill
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
New Years Eve

Worst Actor:

Taylor Lautner Abduction and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Russell Brand Arthur
Adam Sandler Jack and Jill and Just Go With It
Nicolas Cage Drive Angry 3-D, Season of the Witch and Trespass
Nick Swardson Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star

Worst Actress:

Adam Sandler Jack and Jill
Martin Lawrence Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Sarah Jessica Parker I Don’t Know How She Does It and New Years Eve
Sarah Palin Sarah Palin: The Undefeated
Kristen Stewart The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Worst Supporting Actor:

Al Pacino Jack and Jill
Nick Swardson Jack and Jill and Just Go With It
James Franco Your Highness
Patrick Dempsey Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Ken Jeong Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, The Hangover Part II and Zookeeper

Worst Supporting Actress:

Brandon T. Jackson Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
Katie Holmes Jack and Jill
Nicole Kidman Just Go With It
David Spade Jack and Jill
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Worst Screen Emsemble:

The entire cast of: Jack and Jill
The entire cast of: Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
The entire cast of: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The entire cast of: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
The entire cast of: New Years Eve

Worst Director:

Michael Bay Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Tom Brady Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Bill Condon The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Dennis Dugan Jack and Jill and Just Go With It
Garry Marshall New Years Eve

Worst Screenplay:

Jack and Jill
Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
New Years Eve

Worst On-Screen Couple:

Nicolas Cage & Anyone sharing the screen with him in any of his three 2011 movies
Shia LeBeouf & The Underwear Model (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) in Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Adam Sandler & EITHER Jennifer Aniston OR Brooklyn Decker in Just Go With It
Adam Sandler & EITHER Katie Holmes, Al Pacino OR Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill
Kristen Stewart & EITHER Taylor Lautner OR Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Worst Rip-Off, Remake, Prequel or Sequel: