The worst of the worst
The Razzies jump the shark: Why pick on Jessica Alba while a non-nude JakeGyllenhaal skates?
- Jennifer Aniston in "The Bounty Hunter" = worst actress in the 2011 Razzies
- Included as a "Worst Actor" selection, Taylor Lautner for both "Twilight Saga:Eclipse" and "Valentine’s Day"
- One of The Golden Raspberry Awards' worst picture of 2010, "Sex and the City 2."Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon were alsorecognized in the "Worst Actress" category.
- Another selection for worst picture, "Twilight Saga: Eclipse"
There's kicking people, and there's kicking people who are already down.
There's something dishy and fun about giving successful, famous people a hard time — like Ricky Gervais did while hosting the Golden Globes.
But the Razzies, the anti-Oscars given out by the Golden Raspberry Foundation to the worst movies and actors of the year for the past 30 years, have lost some of that spirit this year by nominating actors with less than impressive careers.
Which is not to say there aren't plenty of stars on the list — Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus, Gerard Butler, Megan Fox, Jack Black, Jessica Alba and the casts of Sex and The City 2 and Twilight: Eclipse among them.
But unlike last year, when Sandra Bullock collected her Razzie the night before picking up an Academy Award, and 2005, when Halle Berry accepted hers while holding her Oscar won the year before, these are actors who have built entire careers on terrible movies.
Alba, for example, was nominated for worst supporting actress for her performance in no less than four movies in 2010. No one is surprised that she is terrible in these movies. If you go see a movie starring Jessica Alba, you know what you're in for — mild T&A and animatronic acting.
If the Razzies are just going to pick low-hanging fruit, these "worsts" seem arbitrary. Was Jennifer Aniston in The Bounty Hunter really so much worse than Katherine Heigl in Life As We Know It or Kristen Bell in When in Rome? Also, considering Josh Duhamel was in two of those three movies, can we assume he skated by un-nominated because listening to Fergie practice singing is enough torture for one man? What makes Cats & Dogs 2: the Revenge of Kitty Galore worse than Yogi Bear or Marmaduke or that owl movie whose name I'm not even going to bother to look up?
They should take a cue from The Literary Review, which gives out a "Bad Sex in Fiction" award every year. Winners and nominees include admired authors like Jonathan Franzen and Tom Wolfe, not literary disasters like Snooki.
For some real relevance, leave out the teens and the former models and nominate actors who are capable of better. I'm thinking Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in The Tourist, Amy Adams in Leap Year, Liam Neeson in Clash of the Titans, Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex or Jake Gyllenhaal for all scenes in which he is not at least half naked.
Until then, the Razzies can have their fun hating on The Last Airbender and Love Sucks. But I can't imagine anyone caring.