Razziemataz! -- A Night at the Razzie Awards

Yesterday, when I heard that the annual Golden Raspberry Awards, otherwise known as the Razzies, were being announced to honor the year's worst films, I wondered how and where the "winners" were unveiled. My girlfriend did a little research on-line and found the venue, so we dressed up in the hopes of crashing the party. When we arrived at the theater, we learned that membership was required to enter; I confidently told her that I had received a forwarded e-mail inviting me. We waited twenty minutes (and saw Ross the Intern from The Tonight Show) and walked the short red carpet again, and perhaps to award our polite persistence, she let us in for free! It really wasn't that hard, but any effort would've been worth it to see the year's worst movies celebrated in such a public, shameless way.



The theater was rather modest considering how much press the Razzies receive, both in anticipation and in contrast to the Academy Awards. The ceremony began with a hilarious spoof on Mama Mia's "Dancing Queen," and the awards were presented in a rather formal comedic style, almost in the form of a high school thespian exercise but with the timing of years' worth of experience. Some punchlines were read chorally, which was both funny and distracting, but the beauty of a ceremony like this is how any mistakes or amateurish qualities can be written off as intentionally satirical. Since I'm not a member of the Razzie community, I wonder if I missed any inside jokes between the presenters and the invited audience, something circulated via e-mail or on message boards throughout the year.



Of course, anyone with general knowledge of pop culture couldn't miss the inherent humor in poking fun at box office bombs like The Hottie and the Nottie and The Love Guru. Mike Myers' Guru won the Worst Picture award, and ironically it's the one film we saw in the theater -- Maybe we cursed it. Yes, that's it; all of those terrible poop and penis jokes had nothing to do with it. I wonder if anyone has commented that the worst film and possibly the best, if Slumdog Millionaire wins, both have allusions to India and Bollywood. Leave it to Hollywood to represent the best and worst of any culture it's decided to exploit to meet its own ends.

Following Halle Berry's appearance at the Razzies a few years ago, every year is haunted with the potential and disappointment for another celebrity to show up. While the Razzies' performers were the only stars to grace the stage, I was thoroughly entertained. Then again, who can complain in the face of free entertainment! That's the point -- when seeing a film costs the equivalent to a whole day's worth of meals, we're entitled to spitting it out when it leaves a bad taste in our mouths.




For more pictures about from Razzie experience, click here!