Since the 1980s, The Golden Raspberry Awards (culturally known as theRazzies) have been awarded to the worst in films each year, honoring their spectacularly underwhelming achievements. After many decades of categories and nominations passing in and out of favor, the relevancy of the Razzies is beingcalled into question.
Nevertheless, the Razzies broke ground with themixed bag of filmssurging through the 1990s. The grunge-fed decade featuredmany classics, fromSilence of the Lambs,Forrest Gump, andAmerican Beautyto cult classics such asDazed and Confused,Pulp Fiction, andEmpire Records. Among all the acclaim and fan favorites are, of course, the films that find no favor among the harshest critics. Here are the absolute worst movies of the ‘90s, ranked according to the number of Razzies they’ve won.
6Ghosts Can’t Do It: Winner of Four Razzies
From John and Bo Derek,TV Guideonce calledGhosts Can’t Do It, “one of the low points of what passes for civilization in the 20th century.” The film features billionaire Scott (Anthony Quinn) who, after surviving a heart attack, has been denied sexual relations with his wife, Kate (Bo Derek), and chooses to commit suicide than be without this intimacy. In his afterlife, Scott takes on the ethereal form of a ghost and reconnects with his wife, where the two concoct a plan to find a new, youthful body for Scott to inhabit and resume their lives together.
The film was released in 1990 and panned by critics from various outlets.The New York Timesfound the film to be an “abomination” from the Derek couple, even going so far as saying, “there is literally nothing to recommend this film, even to bad-movie aficionados.”Ghosts Can’t Do Itwas thus the winner of four Razzies, including Worst Picture, Worst Director (John Derek), Worst Actress (Bo Derek), and, most infamous of all, Donald Trump’s self-portrayal earning him Worst Supporting Actor.
Related:Is It Time to Retire The Razzie Awards?
5Wild Wild West: Winner of Five Razzies
Loosely based on its preceding 1960s television series,Wild Wild Weststars Will Smith and Kevin Kline as Secret Service agents assigned to protect the 18th President of the United States. Amidst the protagonists’ rivalry, they plan to break a treasonous plot against the president and uncover the disappearance of America’s elite team of scientists.
Wild Wild Westwas commercially unsuccessful. Generally, the movie was found unfavorable among critics and audiences, withRoger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Timesgoing as far as saying, “The movie is all concept and no content… You know something has gone wrong when a story is about two heroes in the Old West, and the last shot is of a mechanical spider riding off into the sunset.” In spite of these reviews, however,Wild Wild Westhas a cult following among other Barry Sonnenfeld films such asMen in BlackandRV.
Wild Wild Westreceived five Razzie awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director (Sonnenfeld), Worst Screenplay, and two retired categories, Worst Original Song (Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West”) and Worst Screen Couple.
Related:Best Worst Picture Razzie Awards Winners of All Time
4The Postman: Winner of Five Razzies
Kevin Costner’sThe Postmanfeatures a post-apocalyptic future envisioned in the now past year 2013. The film is on the 1985 book of the same name by David Brin and, like the novel, follows an unnamed drifter who finds refuge in the uniform and mailbag of a deceased postman. The film’s postmodern premise of the protagonist utilizing the Postal Service to reintegrate a broken United States fills in for the movie’s foundation of sparking hope in a dreary world.
Released on Christmas in 1997, the film failed at the box office and was panned by critics. Film critics ofThe New York TimesandThe Chicago Sun-Timesfound that the movie’s noble efforts fell short of “bogus sentimentality”, findingThe Postmanto be “goofy” and pretentious.” In spite of this, Costner has defended the film in the past: “Well, I always thought it was a really good movie! … You know, I thought it was a pretty funny movie set against the idea of a Superman—somebody stepping up. But in this case, it’s a very humble guy whose nothing but a liar—delivers mail and burns half of it just to stay alive. So, I like the movie.”
The Postmanwon five Razzies, all including Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song (for the entire song selection), and Costner winning Worst Actor and Director.
3Burn Hollywood Burn: Winner of Five Razzies
Burn Hollywood Burn, a 1997 mockumentary film presiding over a disowned project and a film director on the run. Featuring cameos from stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan, the in-film director, Alan Smithee is disillusioned when his film is recut and decisively steals the film, threatening to destroy the project by burning it.
Released in only 19 theaters,Roger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Timesfound the film deserving of zero stars, asserting it was “incompetent, unfunny, ill-conceived, badly executed, lamely written, and acted by people who look trapped in the headlights.”
Burn Hollywood Burn, in its dreadfulness, is the winner of five Razzies, the usual awards of Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song, and Eszterhas winning Worst Supporting Actor as well as the now retired Worst New Star award.
2Striptease: Winner of Six Razzies
Andrew Bergman’s dark comedy,Striptease, is based on the novel of the same name by Carl Hiaasen and centers on Demi Moore’s portrayal of the protagonist, Erin Grant. Grant, once an FBI secretary, becomes an exotic dancer in a Miami club to reattain custody rights over her daughter.
According to Hiaasen’s novel, every character ofStripteaseis intended to be for amusement, however,Roger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Timesfound that “all of the characters are hilarious except for Demi Moore’s.” Furthermore, inLeonard Maitlin’s 2002 Movie & Video Guide, Maitlin commented that the film, more or less, experienced an identity crisis: “Not funny enough, or dramatic enough, or sexy enough, or bad enough, to qualify as entertainment inanycategory.”
Nevertheless, Bergman claims the film “did better than almost anything [he’s] been involved with,” in spite of its reception. In light of this,Stripteasewon a total of six Razzies, all of which include: Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song, Worst Director (Bergman), Worst Actress (Moore), and Moore and Reynolds shared the Worst Screen Couple award.
1Showgirls: Winner of Seven Razzies
Showgirlsreigns as champion with a total of seven Razzie awards. The 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven is categorized as an erotic drama pulp noir d received much controversy over its explicit content The film’s story is centered on protagonist Nomi Malone, who drifts into Las Vegas to become a showgirl.
The film was critically and commercially unsuccessful on its initial release. ScreenwriterJoe Eszterhas admitted about the movie, “Clearly we made mistakes. Clearly it was one of the biggest failures of our time. It failed commercially, critically, it failed on videotape, it failed internationally.”
In 2012,Kyle MacLachlan said of its legacy: “Now, of course, it has a whole other life as a sort of inadvertent… satire. No, ‘satire’ isn’t the right word. But it’s inadvertently funny. So it’s found its place.It provides entertainment, though not in the way I think it was originally intended.”
The film earned Worst Picture, Worst Director (Verhoeven), Worst Screenplay, Worst Original Song, Worst Actress (Berkley), Worst New Star (Berkley), and Worst Screen Couple for any combination of two people (or two body parts).
