HEADS UP/CONTENT WARNINGS
Two of the nominated films contain lighthearted and/or romanticized depictions of nonconsensual, sexual violence that some audiences may find disturbing and/or troublesome. If you decide to watch 365 Days or The Wrong Missy, even though I highly recommend not doing so, please keep this warning in mind for your well-being if needed. If you or someone you know may need help, please click on this link for a list of resources.
Additionally, another one of the nominees contains depictions of potentially lethal restraint used on an autistic person that may disturb or trigger some audiences, particularly those in autistic and/or other disability communities. If you decide to watch Music, which I also do not recommend watching, please keep this in mind for your well-being if needed.
If you want to know how I feel each about these nominees, here is a tier list (made with Tiermaker).
If you cannot recognize the films from their posters, here are the titles written out (Worst Picture nominees are bolded).
B/B+ (SOLID): Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
B-/C+ (FAIRLY DECENT): Wonder Woman 1984, The Call of the Wild
C/C- (MEDIOCRE): The Witches, Hillbilly Elegy
D+/D (BAD): Hubie Halloween, The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, Breach, Dolittle, Fantasy Island, The Last Thing He Wanted, The Tax Collector
D- (TERRIBLE): Hard Kill, Brahms: The Boy II, Survive the Night, Iron Mask, The Secret: Dare to Dream
F (ABYSMAL): 365 Days, The Wrong Missy, Absolute Proof, Corona Zombies, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King, Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51, Music
“Razzies?”
The Razzies, formally known as the Golden Raspberry Awards, is a satirical “award” show designed to recognize the worst in film each year. Taking place the night before its polar opposite (the Oscars), this ceremony recognizes the failed efforts of actors and filmmakers, most of whom do not actually show up to receive their awards in person. The ceremony, of course, is a joke, but it does provide some great insight into each year’s worst films or worst aspects of films (i.e. – a bad acting performance in an otherwise good movie).
But are these films really the worst of 2020? Were these the worst acting performances of 2020? Did the Golden Raspberry Awards folks actually sit through every movie released in 2020 and claim that the worst of them are largely big-budget Hollywood films?
If you are asking these questions, let me ask you this. Would you really want to see a popular awards show that makes fun of relatively unknown, low-budget indie films? Probably not, and for me, if there were truly an awards ceremony for that, then it would probably be entering bullying territory. It’s because of this that I’m glad that the Razzies are clearly focused on mainstream, Hollywood films, and I mostly don’t feel bad for enjoying the show because the poor quality of these nominated films speak less to a lack of creativity and talent and more to executive meddling and misguided decision-making.
I do feel bad, though, for the nominated actors because usually, the nominations for Worst (Supporting) Act(or/ress) are not because of poor acting ability. Rather, the nominations seem to be “earned” because these actors, usually quite talented, were the prominent roles in really bad movies (i.e. – Anne Hathaway or Bruce Willis). Also, if the acting performances ended up being bad, it likely has a lot to do with bad direction/writing or casting choices (i.e. – Maddie Ziegler in Music or Shia LaBeouf in The Tax Collector).
For this reason, I want to make it clear that these predictions are NOT personal attacks on any of the nominated actors, filmmakers, or crew members. In fact, I do think that some of these nominations are quite mean-spirited and undeserved (i.e. – Kristen Wiig’s Worst Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Wonder Woman 1984), and I would also like to stress that whether or not a film turns out great, there is still a lot of effort and talent in even the worst of cinema.
For brevity’s sake, I won’t touch on each of these movies, but I would like to share some quick observations about these nominations:
- If you’ve seen Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, then you know that Rudy Giuliani – and Rudy Giuliani himself – is the only reason why this Oscar-nominated film is also up for two Razzies.
- Okay, sure – Wonder Woman 1984 is definitely worse than its predecessor, but a nomination for Worst Sequel? Really?
- This must have been a great year for Happy Madison; their two nominated films (Hubie Halloween and The Wrong Missy), relative to the studio’s early-to-mid-2010s output, weren’t that bad and got only a few nominations. Don’t these movies usually sweep these awards?
- John Cleese should have gotten the Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor instead of Chevy Chase for The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee.
- I always find it funny when non-actors are up for acting Razzies, despite not actually acting in their films (i.e. – CEO Mike Lindell and lawyer/former politician Rudy Giuliani).
The Five Worst Movies of 2020 (Supposedly)
Before going over my predictions, I would like to at least share my thoughts about the five films up for Worst Picture.
365 Days
Thoughts: This movie is abhorrent, and as hinted in my warning at the top of the page, it romanticizes sexual violence, despite its frequent use of the word “consensual” when the male protagonist describes what the female protagonist – whom he kidnapped – has to do in order to leave. I have neither read nor seen Fifty Shades of Grey or its sequels, so I cannot speak on how 365 Days compares to its fellow erotic inspiration. Aside from that, though, everything else in the movie, from the acting performances to its soundtrack, is terrible, and I hope I never have to see or hear about this movie again. Unfortunately, though, like Fifty Shades of Grey, the 365 Days novel was written as the first part of a trilogy, so it is very likely that I will have to sit through this films’ two sequels that will inevitably be Razzie nominees.
My Grade: F
Absolute Proof
Thoughts: I tend to avoid sharing any overtly political thoughts in this blog, and believe it or not, I think I can still convince you that this movie poorly produced documentary is really bad. Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, bought some hours of airtime on One America News Network to attempt to prove that the 2020 US presidential election results were false and that Donald Trump had actually won. Aside from the fact that all of his “evidence” and claims had been debunked by fact-checkers, this whole thing is just pitiful and dull. At least Alex Jones is ironically entertaining.
My Grade: F
Dolittle
Thoughts: Welp. So much for an epic, post-MCU, big-budget Robert Downey Jr movie. Let it be known that Eddie Murphy is still the best Dr. Dolittle.
My Grade: D
Fantasy Island
Thoughts: There should be a subgenre for horror films that are not scary but are just boring. Fantasy Island, along with fellow 2020 Razzie nominee Brahms: The Boy II, needs to be categorized as such, and when that happens, we won’t have to worry about setting expectations for these types of movies again.
My Grade: D
Music
Thoughts:
Skip to 0:34 (loud sound warning)
My Grade: F
“And the Razzies [Should/Will] Go to….”
Worst Picture
Should Win: 365 Days
Second Choice: Music
Will Win: Absolute Proof
Second Guess: 365 Days
Other Nominees: Fantasy Island, Dolittle
Worst Director
Should Win: Charles Band (All 3 Barbie & Kendra movies – Corona Zombies, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King, and Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51 )
Second Choice: Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes (365 Days)
Will Win: Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes (365 Days)
Second Guess: Sia (Music)
Other Nominees: Ron Howard (Hillbilly Elegy), Stephen Gaghan (Dolittle)
Worst Actor
Should Win: Mike Lindell (Absolute Proof as Himself)
Second Choice: Michele Morrone (365 Days)
Will Win: Mike Lindell (Absolute Proof as Himself)
Second Guess: Michele Morrone (365 Days)
Other Nominees: Robert Downey Jr. (Dolittle as Dr. John Dolittle), Adam Sandler (Hubie Halloween as Hubie Dubois), David Spade (The Wrong Missy as Tim Morris)
Worst Actress
Should Win: Anna-Maria Sieklucka (365 Days as Laura Biel)
Second Choice: Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy as Missy)
- I’d like to point out, though, that I do think Lapkus is a great comedic actress, and I also believe that her she gave the strongest performance in The Wrong Missy. The problem was that her character, along with every other character in this movie, was very poorly written.
Will Win: Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy as Missy)
Second Guess: Anna-Maria Sieklucka (365 Days as Laura Biel)
Other Nominees: Anne Hathaway (The Last Thing He Wanted and The Witches as Elena McMahon and Grand High Witch, respectively), Katie Holmes (Brahms: The Boy II and The Secret: Dare to Dream as Liza and Miranda Wells, respectively), Kate Hudson (Music as Kazu “Zu” Gamble)
Worst Supporting Actor
Should Win: Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as Himself)
Second Choice: Bruce Willis (Breach, Hard Kill, and Survive the Night as Clay Young, Donovan Chalmers and Frank Clark, respectively)
Will Win: Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as Himself)
Second Guess: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Iron Mask as James Hook)
Other Nominees: Chevy Chase (The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee as Chevy), Shia LaBeouf (The Tax Collector as Creeper)
Worst Supporting Actress
Should Win: Lucy Hale (Fantasy Island as Melanie Cole)
- I’m only picking her because I really hated her character arc in Fantasy Island.
Second Coice: Maggie Q (Fantasy Island as Gwen Olsen)
Will Win: Maddie Ziegler (Music as Music Gamble)
- I feel most bad for this prediction because this nomination has more to do with WOEFULLY misguided casting, direction, and research than it does with Ziegler’s acting ability.
Second Guess: Lucy Hale (Fantasy Island as Melanie Cole)
Other Nominees: Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy as Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance; also Oscar nominated for the same role), Kristen Wiig (Wonder Woman 1984 as Barbara Minerva / Cheetah)
Worst Screen Combo
Should Win: Lauren Lapkus and David Spade (The Wrong Missy)
Second Choice: Maria Bakalova and Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Will Win: Maria Bakalova and Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
- Just know that this nomination had everything to do with Giuliani and nothing to do with Bakalova, who is actually and rightfully up for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Second Guess: Robert Downey Jr. and his utterly unconvincing “Welsh” accent (Dolittle)
Other Nominees: Harrison Ford and that totally fake-looking CGI “dog” (The Call of the Wild), Adam Sandler and his grating simpleton voice (Hubie Halloween)
Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
Should Win: 365 Days (Rip-off of Fifty Shades of Grey)
Second Choice: Fantasy Island (Re-imagining of TV series of the same name)
Will Win: 365 Days (Rip-off of Fifty Shades of Grey)
Second Guess: Dolittle (Remake)
Other Nominees: Hubie Halloween (Rip-off of Ernest Scared Stupid), Wonder Woman 1984 (Sequel to Wonder Woman)
Worst Screenplay
Should Win: Tomasz Klimala and Barbara Białowąs & Tomasz Mandes, and Blanka Lipińska; Based on the novel 365 Dni (365 Days) by Blanka Lipińska (365 Days)
- FOUR people wrote this movie?!
Second Choice: Kent Roudebush, Silvia St. Croix, and Billy Butler (All 3 Barbie & Kendra movies – Corona Zombies, Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King, and Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51)
Will Win: Tomasz Klimala and Barbara Białowąs & Tomasz Mandes and Blanka Lipińska; Based on the novel 365 Dni (365 Days) by Blanka Lipińska (365 Days)
Second Guess: Vanessa Taylor; Based on the memoir by J. D. Vance (Hillbilly Elegy)
Other Nominees: Stephen Gaghan and Dan Gregor & Doug Mand; Based on the character by Hugh Lofting (Dolittle), Jeff Wadlow & Chris Roach & Jillian Jacobs; Based on the television series of the same name created by Gene Levitt (Fantasy Island)
With all that negativity out of the way, I’m hoping that by next week, I’ll have the predictions for the 2021 Oscars!
Miles on Media 