The Razzie Awards are a bit of an enigma. Created by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation so as to recognize the worst of the products coming from the Hollywood movie making machine, sometimes they hit, and sometimes they miss. Sometimes the films they nominate are bad films, but not often are they the worst. They are often among the worst of the mega-budget films, and the actors and actresses who receive nominations receive often for their entire body of work in a year, not just individual performances, which can make it look like the organization behind the Razzies just likes to pick on some of the same people over and over again. My own personal beef is their “Worst Screen Combo” category. Often that category has “everyone from ‘Film X'” as a nominee – when really, nominating a character or bit actor with one line in a film should hardly be the subject of a Razzie nomination for “Worst Screen Combo”. Pick on the bad actors, and name names, Razzies. Name names for your nominees. The other concern, is that Razzie noms aren’t voted on by “a jury of your peers”, rather anyone and everyone can be a member, which makes them more like People’s Worst Choice Awards. “Winners” will be announced on “Oscar Eve”, Saturday, March 1st.
Anyways, with that rant behind us, here are Disney‘s 5 nominations for the 34th Annual Razzie Awards, all for The Lone Ranger:
Worst Picture: The Lone Ranger, against After Earth, Grown-Ups 2, A Madea Christmas, and Movie 43.
Worst Actor: Johnny Depp (The Lone Ranger), against Ashton Kutcher (Jobs), Adam Sandler (Grown-Ups 2), Jaden Smith (After Earth), and Sylvester Stallone (Bullet To The Head, Escape Plan, and Grudge Match)
Worst Director: Gore Verbinski (The Lone Ranger), against Dennis Dugan (Grown-Ups 2), Tyler Perry (A Madea Christmas and Temptation), M. Night Shyamalan (After Earth), and <sigh> “The 13 People Who Directed” (Movie 43). [For the record, the thirteen people are: Peter Farrelly, Steven Brill, Will Graham, Steve Carr, Griffin Dunne, James Duffy, Jonathan van Tulleken, Elizabeth Banks, Patrik Forsberg, Brett Ratner, Rusty Cundieff, James Gunn, and Bob Odenkirk]
Worst Screenplay: Ted Elliott, Justin Haythe & Terry Rossio (Screen Story & Screenplay for The Lone Ranger) against Gary Whitta and M. Night Shyamalan (Screenplay) and Will Smith (Story) of After Earth, Fred Wolfe & Adam Sandler & Tim Herlihy (Grown-Ups 2), Tyler Perry (A Madea Christmas), and <again, sigh> the 19 “Screenwriters” (their quotation marks, not mine) of Movie 43 [who again, deserve the ‘credit’ for their work, if it really is that bad. They are: Rocky Russo, Jeremy Sosenko, Ricky Blitt, Bill O’Malley, Will Graham, Jack Kukoda, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Claes Kjellstrom, Jonas Wittenmark, Tobias Carlson, Will Carlough, Jonathan van Tulleken, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Patrik Forsberg, Olle Sarri, Jacob Fleisher, Greg Pritikin, James Gunn, and Bob Odenkirk]
Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel: The Lone Ranger against Grown-ups 2, Hangover III, Scary Movie 5, and Smurfs 2.