WORST FILM OF YEAR IS A CLOSE RACE
Copyright 2002 Reuters News Agency

[ February 11th 2002 ]

The Oscars are not the only race that is too close to call for film awards this year - there's a battle raging for the worst film of 2001, according to the 22nd annual Razzie award nominations announced Monday. The Razzies, which purposely names its nominees a day before the far, far more prestigious Oscar nominations are announced, said the fight for worst film has come down to five critical fiascoes: Driven, Freddy Got Fingered, Mariah Carey's Glitter, Pearl Harbor and 3000 Miles to Graceland, a near-forgotten tale of what happens when Elvis imitators go bad.

Few films were hammered as hard by the critics last year as the five named as the nonprofit satire group's worst film nominees. But the driving forces behind the race-car drama Driven, Sylvester Stallone, and gross-out comedy Freddy Got Fingered, Tom Green, were also nominated for four other worst awards, tying the previous record for most individual worst nominations.

According to Razzie head John Wilson, Green was "fingered" for worst actor, worst director, worst screenplay (with Derek Harvie) and for worst screen couple as Tom Green and Any Animal He Abuses. (The film is replete with animal abuse.) Stallone, who won the Razzie Worst Actor of The Century trophy in 2000, was nominated for worst supporting actor, worst screenplay, worst screen couple (with co-star Burt Reynolds) and for worst picture as one of the producers of Driven. This brings Stallone's career Razzie total to 29 nominations in 22 years. He won nine times.

Besides Green, the worst actor nominees were Ben Affleck for Pearl Harbor, Kevin Costner for 3000 Miles To Graceland, Keanu Reeves for Hardball and the tear-jerker Sweet November, and John Travolta, nominated for Domestic Disturbance and Swordfish. Carey was nominated as worst actress for her work in her off-key screen debut in the box office disaster "Glitter." Also nominated were Penelope Cruz in Blow, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Vanilla Sky, Angelina Jolie for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Original Sin, Jennifer Lopez for Angel Eyes and The Wedding Planner and last but not least, Charlize Theron, for Sweet November.

Nominated for the worst screen couple were Ben Affleck and either Kate Beckinsale or Josh Hartnett for Pearl Harbor, Mariah Carey's cleavage for Glitter, Tom Green and the animals he abuses in Freddy Got Fingered, Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone in Driven and Kurt Russell and either Kevin Costner or Courtney Cox in 3000 Miles To Graceland.

Winners of the Razzies will be announced on March 23, just a day before the Oscars are handed out. Nominations and winners are voted on by about 500 members of the Golden Raspberry Foundation, industry figures and entertainment journalists. Razzie head Wilson said in an interview with Reuters that this year he has a personal favorite for worst film - Freddy Got Fingered, even though he said the category was a real contest thanks to Drive and Glitter.

"Freddy is a new, and I hope all time, low in bad taste, unfunny humor and bad career judgment. I hope we give all the awards to Tom Green because he might not be back," Wilson said.