Top, er, Bottom 20 Worst Picture Razzies of All Time

On the eve of Oscar Night, the Golden Raspberry Awards, or the Razzies as they are more commonly known, celebrate (?) the worst movies of the year. It’s a tradition going on its 33rd year, and Life’d now recognizes the Top, er, Bottom 20 Worst Picture Razzies of All Time. (Note: No. 20 is the least worst; No. 1, the crap de la crap.)

20. Shining Through (1992)

Plot: A woman with a mix of German and Jewish descent goes behind enemy lines in WWII Germany.

Why It Sucked: Okay, so sucked is a little harsh in this case, but it is a drab romantic thriller, and we’re not buying Melanie Griffith as the intelligent woman. Michael Douglas phones in his performance as well. Props to the setting and costume design, though.

Budget: $30 million

Box office: $43.838 million

IMDB Rating: 6.1 / 10

Trailer:

19. Color of Night (1994)

Plot: A psychiatrist becomes the target of a killer when he takes over for a murdered colleague.

Why It Sucked: A slick killer and a cool plot are overshadowed by gratuitous sex in an empty effort to keep up with what came naturally for Basic Instinct two years earlier. Add the fact that Willis is severely out of place in the role of psychiatrist, and you’ve got a missed opportunity.

Budget: $40 million

Box office: $19.75 million

IMDB Rating: 4.9 / 10

Trailer:

18. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Plot: Megatron, the Decepticons and a new villain, the Fallen, cause havoc for Earth once more. Autobots to the rescue.

Why It Sucked: Excellent as the first film was, this thing had a high bar to reach, and boy did it fail miserably. Beyond a few cool-looking fight scenes, nothing works. The humor falls flat. Characters aren’t developed in the slightest. Really stupid final act that involves robot heaven. All style and zero substance.

Budget: $200 million

Box office: $836.303 million

IMDB Rating: 5.9 / 10

Trailer:

17. Striptease (1996)

Plot: A single mom takes up stripping to support herself and provide a better life for her daughter but encounters a lowlife Congressman along the way.

Why It Sucked: Based on the Carl Hiaasen novel, this should have been an incredible exercise in comedy and suspense, but instead it’s a very watered-down misinterpretation of the book. That being said, Demi Moore never looked finer. Just fast-forward through the story parts.

Budget: $40 million

Box office: $113.309 million

IMDB Rating: 4.1 / 10

Trailer:

16. The Last Airbender (2010)

Plot: A young Avatar is the only hope against the Fire Kingdom in this adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated series.

Why It Sucked: Beyond Unbreakable and, to a lesser degree, The Sixth Sense and Signs, pretty much every film M. Night Shyamalan has made sucks, so no surprise here. This one doesn’t suck in the same way as The Happening, The Village, or Lady in the Water, though. It’s not an exercise in attempting to trick the audience by leaving no stupid-stone unturned. It’s just a bad movie.

Budget: $150 million

Box office: $319.713 million

IMDB Rating: 4.5 / 10

Trailer:

15. Basic Instinct 2 (2006)

Plot: Ruthless novelist Catherine Tramell once again wrecks a man’s life and is implicated in murder.

Why It Sucked: As erotic thrillers go, the first Basic Instinct is one of the very best. Yes, it pushed the envelope, but it didn’t do it at the expense of story. This one did. The public largely ignored BI2 with total U.S. gate not even hitting the $10 million mark. Considering what a hit the first film was, that’s a disaster of biblical proportions.

Budget: $70 million

Box office: $38.629 million

IMDB Rating: 4.0 / 10

Trailer:

14. The Love Guru (2008)

Plot: Love guru Maurice Pitka is enlisted to help a struggling hockey star overcome his humiliating breakup.

Why It Sucked: Mike Myers wowed audiences with Austin Powers 1 and 2, but then forgot how to make any film other than Austin Powers 1 and 2. By the time his humor showed up in The Love Guru, every single joke was so played out, you had to be embarrassed for the guy. Creatively, anyway. The paychecks are still a nice consolation.

Budget: $62 million

Box office: $40.863 million

IMDB Rating: 3.8 / 10

Trailer:

13. Gigli (2003)

Plot: Gigli, a good-hearted hitman, kidnaps a mentally handicapped man for his bosses, falls for Ricki, and then goes on the run with his two new buddies in tow.

Why It Sucked: Huge step back here for director Martin Brest, whose Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop, and Scent of a Woman, are among our favorite flicks ever. He didn’t get a lot of help from his cast with Ben Affleck in the title role and Jennifer Lopez as the sometimes-lesbian killer, who falls in love with him. The chemistry is way-off. Life later agreed as the real-life relationship that blossomed on-set soon disintegrated.

Budget: $75.6 million

Box office: $7.266 million

IMDB Rating: 2.4 / 10

Trailer:

12. Jack and Jill (2011)

Plot: A family man dreads a holiday visit from his obnoxious sister.

Why It Sucked: Movies where one actor plays multiple characters rarely work. That’s the rule, and that rule holds firm here. Sandler is way over-the-top, and it doesn’t help. Jokes will bounce off you here like bullets off Superman. And as the tagline says, “It ain’t pretty.”

Budget: $79 million

Box office: $149.673 million

IMDB Rating: 3.5 / 10

Trailer:

11. Inchon (1981)

Plot: The Battle of Inchon during the Korean War unfolds in crap-tastic color.

Why It Sucked: It shouldn’t have. Directed by Terence Young (From Russia with Love). Starring Laurence Olivier, Jacqueline Bisset, Toshiro Mifune, and Richard Roundtree. Seriously, how do you screw this up? Beats me, but they managed it. While not the worst film ever made, it’s certainly one of the dullest. Megaforce, The Pirate Movie, Butterfly, and Annie(!?) were also nominated.

Budget: $46 million

Box office: $5.2 million

IMDB Rating: 2.9 / 10

Trailer: