Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture Quiz

Answer: Wild Wild West

The list of nominees for the 1999 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture featured rather high profile films: 'Big Daddy', 'The Haunting', 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace' and 'Wild Wild West'. You can make your own mind up as to which of these films is the worst (my choice would be 'The Blair Witch Project' with all its deliberately dodgy camerawork) but the Razzies chose to honour 'Wild Wild West', a film that many critics felt failed to deliver on its promise.

'Wild Wild West', whose plot centred around James West (Will Smith), Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) and Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek) pursuing a rogue inventor who planned to assassinate President Ulysses S. Grant, isn't particularly memorable but is a pleasant enough way by which to pass a quiet evening. On the positive side, the train used by Smith, Kline and Hayek had fantastic interior decoration!

Answer: Pearl Harbor

There is very little in common between 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Freddy Got Fingered', so let us praise, or perhaps deride, the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation for bringing these films together. 'Pearl Harbor', with its cast stacked with household names, dramatised the events in the run up to, and aftermath of, the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It also explores, rather superficially, concepts of life, death and family. Despite 'Pearl Harbor' having little in the way of redeeming features, it is a far, far better offering than 'Freddy Got Fingered', a film that follows the life of a man who needs to grow up and make a success of himself. In the film, Gordon "Gord" Brody, played by Tom Green, does achieve some success in Hollywood which is in stark contrast to the overwhelmingly negative reviews that 'Freddy Got Fingered' faced.

The Razzies should not be taken seriously, but even at this antidote to the typical award ceremony, 'Pearl Harbor' being considered a worse film than 'Freddy Got Fingered' would have been a travesty.

Answer: Crossroads

The Razzies just love to nominate films that are essentially just a vehicle for the musical output of the featured pop star, 'Spice World' (1998) and Mariah Carey's offering of 'Glitter' (2001) are prime examples. 'Crossroads' was another such film where Britney Spears plays a character who is quote "not a girl, not yet a woman", a person at the crossroads of her life. Her pushy but loving father wants his daughter to enter the medical profession but Britney's character feels as though she has missed out on many of the things teenage girls do whilst she blindly pursued the status of valedictorian.

So, with some friends, she goes on a road trip from Georgia to California and the film documents the trials and tribulations of the crew. Needless to say, the trip was tedious to watch and the ninety minute run time feels a heck of a lot longer. 'Crossroads' didn't gain the title of Worst Picture at the 2002 Razzies, that distinction instead fell upon 'Swept Away', a film directed by Guy Ritchie and starred, you guessed it, Madonna!

Answer: White Chicks

The Wayans brothers, Marion and Shawn, "star" as two black male FBI agents who, in order to solve a kidnapping case, try to pass themselves off as two white women or "white chicks". If you wish to find out whether they succeed in this endeavour, you will need to put yourself through the same ordeal as many a movie critic.

As Roger Ebert put it, "Here is a film so dreary and conventional that it took an act of will to keep me in the theater". Mr Ebert was just as uncomplimentary towards the 2004 winner of the Razzie for Worst Picture, 'Catwoman', the well-known flop in which Halle Berry gains superpowers after being rather curiously revived by a cat. Ebert criticised the fact that the transformation from normal to supernatural was not particularly well explored.

Answer: House of Wax

Every genre has a catalogue of uninspired, poorly made films but the reputation of horror films tends to get bashed more readily and severely by its worst offerings. Maybe there is a compliment to the horror flick there somewhere in that even the bad movies are remembered, or maybe it is simply because there is such a huge library of horror films that would have been best off unmade. The 2005 version of 'House of Wax' is one such example of a rotten film that many will at least be aware of. In a nod to the tradition of FunTrivia movie quizzes an attempted write-up of the plot would be:

Some youngsters find themselves in the remote domain of a pair (or so they think) of sadistic murderers who use molten wax to get their kicks. Most of the youngsters get killed off but, spoiler alert, if you are expecting the "final girl" trope to rear its head you'll be in for much disappointment as one of the guys also escapes an untimely death.

At the 2005 Razzies, 'House of Wax' was not designated Worst Picture, that honour instead went to 'Dirty Love'. Anybody? No, nor me.

Answer: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' is an example of how critical and financial success do not necessarily go hand-in-hand; the film starring Adam Sandler was received negatively by critics but was a hit if box office takings are to be believed. 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' follows the intertwined lives of two firefighters after one of them, Larry, stares death in the face. Coming to terms with the fact that he has had a lucky escape but also realising that he isn't immortal, Larry decides to revise his life insurance policy. However, the way this revision manifests itself results in Chuck (who feels the need to repay Larry who had saved him from danger) getting married to Larry despite both being heterosexual. Inject some authority figures and a genuine love interest for Chuck and you have a rather derivative Adam Sandler film that the 'Wall Street Journal' said was an "insult to gays, straights, men, women, children, African-Americans, Asians, pastors, mailmen, insurance adjusters, firemen, doctors -- and fans of show music."

The winner of the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture for 2007 was the Lindsay Lohan film, 'I Know Who Killed Me'. Can you recall this film? I most certainly can't!

Answer: Battlefield Earth

I can't say anything about 'Battlefield Earth' without repeating what has already been said by the legions of people who have reviewed this film since its release in 2000. The more this movie is panned, the more its legacy lives on and so it has cemented itself into the body of films that have achieved a cult following. The movie features John Travolta leading the defence of Earth from a terrible alien race, the Psychlos. There are lots of bombs and destruction on the way to liberation.

As this film was based on a novel by Scientology's L. Ron Hubbard, John Travolta was very defensive when he faced universal criticism. After 'Battlefield Earth' amassed an impressive collection of Razzies, Travolta said, "I didn't even know there were such awards. I have people around me whose job it is not to tell me about such things. They're obviously doing their job". Hmm...

All I have to add is, what on 'Battlefield Earth' was Forest Whitaker doing in this offering?

Answer: Twilight

Movies from the 'Twilight' franchise made an appearance in the list of nominations for the Worst Picture Razzie in three successive years starting in 2010. In 2010, 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' was nominated but lost out to 'The Last Airbender' and in 2011 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1' was pipped at the post by Razzie veteran Adam Sandler and his offering of 'Jack and Jill'. 2012 was the year for 'Twilight' when the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation decided that no film was as bad as 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2'.

The Razzie winner showed the viewer how Bella fared as a vampire and featured the climactic battle against the Volturi.

Answer: Jack and Jill

'Jack and Jill' could be considered something of a 'Ben-Hur' of the Razzies, with my apologies to the latter for the comparison! Whereas 'Ben-Hur' won eleven Oscars, including Best Picture, 'Jack and Jill' won ten Razzies - a clean sweep! What made this all the more remarkable is that Adam Sandler was awarded the Razzie for both Worst Actor (for playing Jack) and Worst Actress (for his portrayal of Jill). The two title characters are twins, one successful and the other not, and the film is about what happens when Jill visits Jack for Thanksgiving in Los Angeles.

Prior to winning the Worst Actor and Worst Actress awards, Sandler was nominated for Worst Actor in 'Bulletproof', 'Happy Gilmore', 'Big Daddy', 'Little Nicky', 'Eight Crazy Nights', 'Mr. Deeds' and 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'. What a filmography!

Answer: After Earth

I am a big fan of movies that proffer a dystopian vision of the future but to create such a world takes creativity and style. 'After Earth' sadly didn't deliver, which is a shame considering Will Smith has featured in some of the better science fiction offerings of the 21st century such as 'I, Robot' (2004). The plot is a well-trodden one with Earth being long vacated but is still protected when needs be by a galactic peacekeeping organisation. 'After Earth' didn't suffer the ignominy of receiving the Razzie for Worst Picture, and rightly so. This shame went instead to 'Movie 43', a film with fourteen plots, each of which directed by a different person, leading to something of a disjointed mess.

I am not going to provide an overview for each of the fourteen separate strands of the film (as much for my sanity than for your's) but in a futile effort to whet your appetite it might be worth mentioning that there is an attempt at an overarching story; namely, a quirky screenwriter, who goes by the name of Charlie Wessler, struggles to successfully pitch his script and each fragment of his pitch takes the form of a self-contained mini-movie. The concept of 'Movie 43' proved to be far too complicated to execute.

It is astonishing that 'Movie 43' sports such a strong cast given how poor it is. The ensemble includes the likes of Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Dennis Quaid and Halle Berry.