Cinema Retro columnist David Savage takes a look at Hollywood's most dubious career achievement.
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Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls: the film that inspired Whoopi Goldberg to say she hadn't seen this many poles abused since WWII.
In
the run-up to this year’s Razzie nominations, to be announced Wednesday,
January 21st for 2008’s “honorees†for the worst achievements in
moviemaking, the longlist buzz is already getting press. If it’s any
indication, 2008 must have been a stink-bomb banner year for movies as it’s
rare for the press to report on the worst movies of the year just-passed, before the nominations are even
announced.
Among
the films emerging as leading contenders for 2008’s gold-plated raspberry
statuette -- always bestowed on the eve of the “other†gold-plated statuette
ceremony -- are: The Love Guru, Mike
Myers’ laughless Bollywood debacle; Speed
Racer, Disaster Movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the 2009
“reimaginingâ€), High School Musical 3,
The Hottie & The Nottie (starring
Paris Hilton in a brave, human-like performance) Postal (director Uwe Boll’s “best film to dateâ€), The Happening and Meet Dave, starring Eddie Murphy as Eddie Murphy.
My
personal favorite for Worst Movie of 2008 is the unbearably PC remake of The Women (which I wrote about last
March), Diane English’s 12-years-in-the-making update to the 1939 ensemble classic.
Think of it as WE network’s answer to the furs-and-cigarettes 1930s. Yoga mats
replace chaise lounges, chai lattes replace gin-and-tonics, and
self-empowerment bromides replace catty ripostes. Comic actresses with genius
timing like Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman and Debra Messing all went to waste
in this ill-conceived mess.
But
since the Razzies were created in 1980, the award itself has gained the patina
of respect over the last two decades. Earning a golden raspberry has become its
own singular honor, so delicious is the “badâ€Â
publicity created by being part of a B-movie which, if the participants
are lucky enough, will pass from critics’ wrath to (hopefully) ripen over time
to the esteemed “so bad it’s good†Hall of Shame.  Witness Showgirls,
Mommie Dearest, Battlefield Earth, Howard the
Duck, et al. Elizabeth Berkley of Showgirls
thought she may have committed career suicide after the 1995 movie opened to
incredulous laughter, but now is firmly enthroned as B-movie royalty, in the
tradition of Valley of the Dolls’
Patty Duke.
But
perhaps most importantly, the award winners who show enough self-lampooning humor
to show up at the ceremonies to hold the “fruit of their labors†are usually
rewarded with more affection and respect by the public and press for being so
game.
The
best example was Halle Berry’s hilarious acceptance speech at 2005’s Razzies
for her performance in Catwoman. (“I
want to thank the writers…thank you for thinking this was a good idea…â€)
I
wonder, though: Has any actor or filmmaker ever won a Razzie on Oscar Eve and
then won an Academy Award the next night for the same film? I asked the founder
of The Razzies, John Wilson.
“No
one's ever won both awards in a
single weekend for the exact same
achievement,â€
said Wilson, “but we have had five instances of some overlap:
Â
For 1980,
James Coco
was BOTH an Oscar and a Razzie nominee for his
supporting
performance in Only When I Laugh.
For 1983,
Amy Irving
was BOTH an Oscar and a Razzie nominee for her
supporting
performance (as Barbra Streisand’s “wifeâ€) in Yentl.Â
For
1988, Tom Cruise
starred in both that year’s Worst Picture “winnerâ€
(Cocktail) and that year’s Best Picture
winner (Rain Man).
For 1992,
Alan Mencken
“won†both a WORST Song Razzie (for a song
from
Newsies) and a Best Song Oscar (for a
song from Aladdin)Â in one
weekend.Â
For 1997,
screenwriter Brian
Helgeland “won†both a WORST Screenplay Razzie
(for
Kevin Costner’s Postman) and a BEST
Screenplay Oscar (for L.A.Â
Confidential) in one
weekend.Â
Â
For
all things Razzie, go to www.razzies.com.
Special thanks to John Wilson, head RazzBerry for his contribution to this
article.