Hey, remember Zoolander 2? Exactly. So it’s sort of ironically perfect that the Golden Raspberry Awards, a.k.a. The Razzies, the awards show honoring the worst in cinema as picked by the people who write those “1001 Jokes” books that was founded in 1980 and hasn’t really updated its comedic style since, is hitching its wagon to that underperforming, decades-late Ben Stiller vehicle. The big news this year is that the Razzies have followed the Oscars’ lead in expanding their category sizes; as organizers put it, “2016 was so overfull of bad movies that we had to expand every category from five movies to six.”
However, despite their widened scope, this year’s Razzies nominations have followed the usual pattern of fixating upon a handful of critically panned-but-profitable titles, allowing the awards show to have it both ways in terms of capitalizing upon the films’ popularity while still ostensibly roasting them. Chief among those is the aforementioned Zoolander 2 with nine nominations, followed by Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice—a film at whose expense we have also admittedly had a lot of fun here at The A.V. Club—with eight.
All of which is not to say that these movies don’t suck (most of them, anyway), or that Dinesh D’Souza doesn’t deserve to be taken down a notch. (If that’s possible—his bubble seems to be made of bulletproof glass.) It’s simply that, as far as we’re concerned, a list of bad movies without Norm Of The North on it is no list of bad movies at all.
37th Annual Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE®) Award Nominations
WORST PICTURE
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Dirty Grandpa
Gods Of Egypt
Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party
Independence Day: Resurgence
Zoolander No. 2
WORST ACTOR
Ben Affleck / Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Gerard Butler / Gods Of Egypt & London Has Fallen
Henry Cavill / Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Robert de Niro / Dirty Grandpa
Dinesh D’Souza [as Himself] / Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party
Ben Stiller / Zoolander No. 2
WORST ACTRESS
Megan Fox / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows
Tyler Perry / BOO! A Medea Halloween
Julia Roberts / Mother’s Day
Becky Turner [as Hillary Clinton] / Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party
Naomi Watts / Divergent Series: Allegiant & Shut-In
Shailene Woodley / Divergent Series: Allegiant
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Julianne Hough / Dirty Grandpa
Kate Hudson / Mother’s Day
Aubrey Plaza / Dirty Grandpa
Jane Seymour / Fifty Shades Of Black
Sela Ward / Independence Day: Resurgence
Kristen Wiig / Zoolander No. 2
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nicolas Cage / Snowden
Johnny Depp / Alice Through The Looking Glass
Will Ferrell / Zoolander No. 2
Jesse Eisenberg / Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Jared Leto / Suicide Squad
Owen Wilson / Zoolander No. 2
WORST SCREEN COMBO
Ben Affleck & His BFF (Baddest Foe Forever) Henry Cavill / Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Any 2 Egyptian Gods or Mortals / Gods Of Egypt
Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume / Alice Through The Looking Glass
The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors / Collateral Beauty
Tyler Perry & That Same Old Worn Out Wig / BOO! A Medea Halloween
Ben Stiller and His BFF (Barely Funny Friend) Owen Wilson / Zoolander No. 2
WORST DIRECTOR
Dinesh D’Souza and Bruce Schooley / Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party
Roland Emmerich / Independence Day: Resurgence
Tyler Perry / BOO! A Medea Halloween
Alex Proyas / Gods Of Egypt
Zack Snyder / Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Ben Stiller / Zoolander No. 2
WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
Alice Through The Looking Glass
Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice: Dawn Of Justice
Fifty Shades Of Black
Independence Day: Resurgence
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows
Zoolander No. 2
WORST SCREENPLAY
Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Dirty Grandpa
Gods Of Egypt
Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party
Independence Day: Resurgence
Suicide Squad