The Golden Raspberry Awards, also known as “The Razzies,” recently had to issue an apologetic statement to 12-year-old actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong. As an award show that examines the “worst films” in their selective years, the Razzies awarded Armstrong a nomination in the Worst Actress category for Firestarter. Following the criticism that they received online for singling out a child actress, the Razzies stated they “wish to say we regret any hurt she experienced as a result of our choices” and set new age limitations in their categories. It’s not the first time that they’ve nominated a child actor, as both Macaulay Culkin and The Phantom Menace actor Jake Lloyd received nominations in the past. The Razzies have yet to apologize to these actors, but they’re hardly the only others who deserve a statement of remorse.
Since 1981, the Razzies have used categories that run opposite to the Academy Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor, and Worst Actress; they also have special categories such as Worst Screen Duo, Worst Prequel, Sequel, Remake, or Ripoff, as well as a few other special awards created for certain years. With nominations and winners both announced a day before the Oscar nominations, the Razzies seek to satirize the nature of award shows, but they’ve never been a form of valid criticism.
It’s reached the point where the Razzie awards are no longer humorous in any way. Valid film criticism is important, and it doesn’t always have to be constructive. There is a lot of enjoyment to be had from making fun of bad movies, but the Razzies are simply a lazy collection of easy jokes that are often disrespectful or just plain wrong. In a world where there are more than a few easy ways to share film opinions online, it’s time to burn the Razzies to the ground.
The Razzies Rely on a Corrupt Process
Any jokes at the expense of the Oscars are strange considering the way that the Razzies hold their voting process. Rather than determining their nominations from a discussion or critical body, the Razzie “committee” creates a list of seven to eleven contenders in each category, and leaves a spot open for write-ads. Ballots are issued to members, or basically anyone who is willing to pay for it. All you need to do to become a Razzie member is pay the annual fee of $40 or get a lifetime membership for $500. It has no more value than a Twitter poll, as members can be swayed to vote by recent trends, controversies, or biases.
This determination through public consensus is why the nominees are typically a list of well-known titles that a broad set of voters may have heard of; legendarily terrible movies such as The Room or Daniel the Wizard didn’t get any recognition because they were likely unknown to voters. Similarly, there’s no guarantee that the voters have seen what they’re nominating, and may be simply hopping on whatever films tend to be a punching bag in any given year.
The Razzies’ Nominations Are Often Baffling
This is reflected in the nominations, which tend to focus on easy targets such as studio comedies, failed blockbusters or sequels, and box office disappointments. The Razzies also have a few targets in particular that receive nominations for nearly every performance they give, such as Adam Sandler and Sylvester Stallone. Sandler even received a nomination for the comedy classic Happy Gilmore, with Stallone being recognized for such films as Rocky IV, and Cliffhanger. Due to the stipulation that an actor can be nominated for any number of performances given each year, there are nominations like Ben Affleck’s 2004 win for Worst Actor in Gigli, Daredevil, and Paycheck.
Due to the low-cost involvement in membership, there are more than a few instances when the Razzie nominations are just straight up wrong. Past Worst Picture nominees include now-beloved films such as Armageddon, Road House, Last Action Hero, Cruising, The Blair Witch Project, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and other titles that were met with an initial wave of detractors. That’s only in the Worst Picture category; other egregiously wrong honorees include Stanley Kubrick (Worst Director for The Shining) and Ennio Morricone (Worst Musical Score for The Thing). In fact, the Razzies have occasionally given nominations to actors and artists who would receive an Oscar nomination the next day; examples include Aerosmith’s original song “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing” and Glenn Close’s performance in Hillbilly Elegy.
The Razzies’ History of Strange (and Offensive) Lineups
Occasionally, the Razzies will single out a certain low budget film that the Razzie committee chooses to highlight, and in recent years there’s been an increasing number of conservative documentaries. This leads to lineups that are simply weird; it’s just odd to see a piece of fascist propaganda like Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party nominated alongside poorly reviewed blockbusters like Zoolander 2, Gods of Egypt, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The Razzies are also guilty of singling out individuals in a way that is just plain offensive. Nominations are often women and people of color. They are often purposefully miscategorized, such as Tyler Perry receiving nominations for Worst Actress in multiple Madea sequels and George Clooney and Chris O’Donell receiving recognition for Worst Screen Couple in Batman & Robin (an obvious insult to openly gay director Joel Schumacher). There are only a few outliers each year, and most films tend to get nominated in almost every single category that they are eligible for. You see examples of this like Ben Affleck receiving a Worst Actor for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice; of all the film’s problems, it was almost universally agreed that Affleck’s performance was the best part of the movie.
This Isn’t the First Time The Razzies Had to Apologize
The Firestarter controversy isn’t the first time that the Razzies have had to make a public apology for their cruelty. While they created a category earlier this year for “Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie” for the eight direct-to-VOD films he appeared in that year, the Razzies were forced to rescind the award after Willis’ health struggles with aphasia were made public by his family. It’s amusing that the Razzies stated that they did not intend on destroying anyone’s career, as they’ve previously had nominations for Worst New Star.
In a world where social media and film reviewing outlets such as Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd exist for cinephiles to give their opinions, there’s simply no need for the Razzies to pick out easy targets. There’s nothing wrong with disliking, poorly reviewing, or poking fun at a bad movie, but the Razzies are simply a thoughtless, antiquated tradition that no longer have any value.
