Continuing an annual tradition that is now as devoid of imagination and driven by inertia as an actual Adam Sandler movie—only without anyone involved getting to go on a paid vacation—the Razzies have once again chosen Adam Sandler as the emblem of all cinematic ills in 2013. Sandler already broke the Golden Raspberry’s all-time record for most nominations in a single year, back in the Jack And Jill/Just Go With It era of 2011, and he’s become such a perennial target that no doubt Adam And Drew Go To Africa Or Whatever is already on the Razzies whiteboard for next year. So it’s hardly a surprise to see Sandler and Grown Ups 2 dominating this year’s list of the year’s “worst” films with nine nominations total—a dishonor that Adam Sandler is surely coping with by building a straw man out of stacks of $100 bills, then screaming at it in a comically exaggerated voice, then turning that into a movie that will make $200 million before ending up right back here in 2015.
Once again, the rest of the 2014 Razzies similarly follow the formulas of the movie year they’re ostensibly condemning: pointless cameos by tabloid fixtures (Lindsay Lohan, Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, Kim Kardashian); intentionally lowest-common denominator stabs at comedy (Movie 43, InAPPropriate Comedy, Scary Movie 5); obligatory annual appearances from Tyler Perry and Sylvester Stallone, etc. Meanwhile, some of the other, actual worst movies of the year escape as illogically unscathed as Bruce Willis in A Good Day To Die Hard, to name just one obviously overlooked contender.
Still, no use wondering why the Razzies devote so much—or so little—energy to piling on to worked-over punching bags like Lone Ranger and After Earth while, say, R.I.P.D. gets completely shut out. Much like the thinking behind those movies’ very existence, Lone Ranger and After Earth have bigger stars and higher profiles, and it’s easier to promote the Razzies with those sorts of attention-getting broadsides. And so once again, as little thought is put into the Razzies as went into the nominated movies themselves.
As per usual, the Razzies will be handed out the day before the Oscars, on March 1. The complete list of nominees:
Worst Picture
After Earth
Grown Ups 2
The Lone Ranger
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas
Movie 43