In the 41 years since the Golden Raspberry Awards was founded by UCLA film grads and industry veterans John B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, scores of films have been honored as “the worst of cinematic underachievements.” However, the amusement factor in the event has significantly diminished, with many wondering if the Razzies should be put out to pasture.

The idea of a film, whether a hit or a flop, “blowing a raspberry,” and being awarded a statuette for its supposed failure is an outdated and empty concept in 2022. Films are regularly taken down by established critics, bloggers, randos on Twitter, or just about anyone with a working knowledge of movies. The most recent Razzies evidence this. The winners are usually cheap disses at easy targets like MyPillow Guy, Mike Lindell’s election-denying documentary, Absolute Truth; the Robert Downey Jr. bomb, Doolittle; and actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Adam Sandler, and Kate Hudson – all performers they’ve paid lots of anti-praise to previously.

The Relevance of the Razzies Gets Called Into Question

BruceWillisWrongPlace
Vertical Entertainment

The Razzies boasts 1,128 members from 49 states and more than two dozen foreign countries. It recently made the news for retracting the worst Bruce Willis performance award when it was revealed that the actor had been suffering from the disease aphasia while filming a spate of straight-to-VOD productions. This shined a light on the relevance of the Razzies with such headlines as “Who’s Still Laughing with the Razzies?,” “Opinion: A Call For An End to the Razzies,” and “Razzies 2022 Nominations Are Nearly as Despised as Oscars” calling into question their continued existence.

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Many of the movies “honored” by the Razzies, including titles like The Shining, Batman Returns, and The Thing, went on to be considered classics. Many of the award recipients, like Sandra Bullock, who collected her Razzie for All About Steve, then won her Oscar for The Blind Side the next night, have laughed it off. So, what’s the intended impact of the yearly ceremony? Is it to insult a roster of actors and filmmakers for cheap laughs?

As Dallas Observer mentions, it doesn’t seem to offer any insight as to why these films are supposed to be terrible or satirize the awards season process:

"A brief look at this year’s Razzie nominees (outside of the headline-making Glenn Close nomination) reveals a strange bit of mixed messaging as to what 'worst' even means. Among the Worst Picture nominees are major studio box office bombs Dolittle and Fantasy Island, but also nominated is the alt-right conspiracy documentary Absolute Proof and Sia’s directorial debut Music, a film deemed to be 'deeply offensive' by advocates for the autism community. So are the Razzies here to mock Hollywood’s failed big-budget projects, or are they targeting films that are morally outrageous?"

Perhaps the Razzies are still around after four decades because they are an easy-to-assemble program that’s only goal is to provide a list of film offenders and pick titles and performers to call out for their questionable quality. How this benefits or even entertain modern movie-goers in this day and age is something to question itself.

Wilson and Murphy’s insulting event may have been a wonderfully snarky and skewering enterprise back in the ‘80s when there was much less film criticism and audience reactions to recent movies. But now, there’s little reason for such an invalid vehicle, and the retirement option should be recognized before their relevance and shaky reputation are completely gone.

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Are the Razzies Really Intended to Be Mean Spirited?

Shelley Duvall as Wendy in the movie The Shining
Warner Bros.

In a feature interview with New York Magazine’s Vulture, Razzie co-founder Murphy said:

“We don’t like to pick on people. We like to call them out and say, ‘Hey, think about what you’re doing. Think about your choices. Sometimes actors will just fall into a routine; maybe they have a money machine that they need to fill. That’s what happens, and it’s just about calling it out.”

Continuing the topic, Wilson added:

"Part of what the award is about is not “You suck, and you’ve never done anything good.” A lot of these people, it’s about, “Wow, look at all the good stuff that you’ve done — please explain this one.” [Laughs.] That would apply to Amy Adams this year. I have never before been disappointed by a performance that she gave; I think she’s a very impressive actress. But she was in two of the nominated films, and she herself is nominated for each of them in the two different categories."

But is this calling out really necessary when a movie, its cast, and the filmmakers are torn apart daily on social media with much more pointed putdowns than the Razzies have mustered in modern memory? So, perhaps the event should end, but we will likely see it continue for some time in its current irrelevant state.