18 times the Razzies got it wrong

Coming off of his success on , Jim Carrey starred in , , and in 1994, a trifecta of which earned him the Worst New Star nomination. While some people don’t like Carrey’s outlandish humor, there’s no denying he’s a talented comedian. Plus, all three of his films did extremely well at the box office, a rare feat for a single year in Hollywood. Nominating Carrey alongside Anna Nicole Smith and Shaquille O’Neal seems absurd, especially considering that Carrey went on to stack his career with incredible performances.

is widely considered one of the worst movies of all time, and it’s for that reason that it might actually be great. The bombastic, erotic, uncomfortable noir about strippers was largely panned by critics, did horribly at the box office, and perhaps rightfully took home seven Razzies (out of 13 nominations). Only in later years did it become a so-bad-it’s-good cult classic like , which in turn prompted a reevaluation. Upon closer inspection, it was then lauded as a biting satire so bold and brave that no one realized what it was doing at the time it was released. You can’t really blame the Razzies for this one since, though, it took the whole world years to figure out what was happening.

The 17th Razzies brings one of the most head-scratching nominations on this list as animated characters Beavis and Butt-head were nominated for both Worst Screen Couple (alongside Pamela Anderson’s boobs) and Worst New Star (where they lost to Pamela Anderson’s boobs). With strong box office and a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, is certainly not bad. It’s unclear why they were labeled as a bad couple aside from the fact they’re unsavory characters. As the main characters of a long-running hit television show, they also aren’t really “new stars.” It should also be noted that the same year at the MTV Movie Awards, our boys were nominated for “Best On-Screen Duo,” so what was going on here, Razzies?

At the same ceremony that Beavis, Butt-head, and Pam Anderson’s boobs made their appearances, the Razzies also introduced a one-time-only category honoring films that had made a ton of money that year. While there are certainly plenty of box office juggernauts that are panned (*cough* movies *cough*), it could be argued that all five nominees were well-made movies that have stayed culturally relevant to various degrees. , , , , and don’t really seem like reasons to create a whole new category. Independence Day, which WON an Oscar, seems like an especially weird choice even though it would lose to Twister, a delightful film as well.

The Razzies timed their 20th year perfectly to the new century so they could dish out not only their usual set of awards, but also some “best of the 1900s” trophies. The year was mostly an opportunity to poke fun at , but shockingly the massive indie horror hit of the year also earned nominations in both Worst Picture and Worst Actress. While Heather Donaghue was not an actor before appearing in the film, there is no arguing the impact of Blair Witch in filmmaking (so much found footage in the early aughts), and in culture as a whole. Maybe we should send the Razzies’ nominating committee to the woods outside Burkittsville, Maryland, and see how they fare.

Sylvester Stallone may not be the world’s greatest actor and plenty of his films are a little hokey, but it feels a bit rude to name him “Worst Actor of the Century” for “99.5% of everything he’s EVER done.” The entire and franchises (with the exception of and ) are terrific, and Stallone not only starred in them, but also wrote and directed many of the films. He’s been nominated for three Oscars, created the and franchises, and voiced the funny shark in . He may be an easy target who churns out some B-movie work, but give the Italian Stallion a little bit of respect.

As the Razzies moved into the 2000s, their choices became a little more unimpeachable as they steered away from content that could be considered “edgy” and went for films that generally flopped in all regards like , , and . Still poor choices emerged. Nominating Tom Cruise for Steven Spielberg’s critically acclaimed and lucrative adaptation of is one such poor choice. Cruise is an Oscar-nominated actor who delivers a solid performance here in a role that requires both his acting chops and his stuntman abilities. This is one of his last great dramatic turns, and to stick him beside Rob Schneider feels a bit uncalled for.

An obvious, and somewhat deserved, punching bag for the Razzies in the early 2010s was the franchise, which racked up an impressive 32 nominations in four years (the original skipped the bloodbath). While the films are campy, the dialogue often cringey, and the plots a bit hokey, it’s sort of ironic that so much of the Razzies’ ire was directed at stars who would become two of the most lauded actors of their generation: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Looking back, perhaps the blame for the films lies elsewhere, as both stars have proven time and again their monstrous talent.

Last, but not least, we arrive at the DCEU and the saga of Zack Snyder. In the first few DCEU films post-, the directors were allowed to shoot and work off ridiculously long scripts only to have those films butchered in the editing room to get the runtime down. , , and therefore all came out to horrible reviews only to have longer director’s cuts released later to much kinder receptions. Henry Cavill’s Superman is inexplicably stunted in the original cut and earned its Razzie nomination. Had the longer version been released initially, or had script been tightened before shooting, the Razzies probably wouldn’t have nominated him at all. However, it’s a big missed opportunity to not have nominated “Henry Cavill and his CGI lip” for “Worst On-Screen Duo” in Justice League.