It鈥檚 a dubious distinction, snatched by Adam Sandler for the second year in a row: a spot on our 10-worst- movies list.
Sandler co-wrote and produced last year鈥檚 worst movie 鈥� Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star 鈥� for his prot茅g茅 Nick Swardson.
This year, Sandler鈥檚 absymal That鈥檚 My Boy made the cut. Gosh, if he continues at this rate, he鈥檒l score a hat trick in 2013.
There were so many contenders from Hollywood鈥檚 Hall of Shame this year 鈥� Rock of Ages, Chernobyl Diaries, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows and so on 鈥� it鈥檚 no wonder the Razzies have become almost as popular as the Oscars.
The best of this year鈥檚 movie crop are being saved for last, as always. Check out this space next Friday for the gems.
Meanwhile, here鈥檚 my annual list of the top-10 turkeys:
1. Silent Hill Revelation 3-D
Nanoose Bay-born actress Jodelle Ferland should thank her lucky stars she鈥檚 no longer associated with this videogame-based horror franchise. The only revelation here is that this cheesy 3-D sequel to the visually striking 2006 nightmare is a lazy, convoluted and unbearably boring mess in which the creepy young heroine, now 18, must wade through mindless mythological nonsense before her inevitable confrontation with demons in the ash-covered ghost town of the title. Like the heroine, we, too, should have listened to that 鈥淒on鈥檛 go to Silent Hill!鈥� warning.
2. Darling Companion
It sounded so promising. It鈥檚 the third film in Lawrence Kasdan鈥檚 boomers trilogy after The Big Chill and Grand Canyon, with a top-shelf cast headed by Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest and Sam Shepard as upscale empty-nesters and family and friends who confront relationship issues while searching for a beloved dog that goes missing in the Rockies. Yet this banal, seemingly interminable dramedy barks up the wrong tree. It鈥檚 marred by contrived characters and a clunky, flaccid screenplay that meanders more than the mutt of the title before collapsing under the weight of painfully obvious metaphors. By the time it鈥檚 over, you wish it was the humans who wandered off and the dog that stayed behind.
3. The Raven
A hopelessly miscast John Cusack鈥檚 grating performance as Edgar Allan Poe, James McTeigue鈥檚 murky direction and a preposterous screenplay that imagines Poe as a lovestruck crimefighter searching for a sadistic serial killer inspired by his own stories were among the offences that made this dreary, barely coherent homage such a disservice to the American detective author. There鈥檚 great potential for a clever, compelling drama about the mystery surrounding the wordsmith鈥檚 unsolved death in 1849 Baltimore, but this gloomy gothic fiction sure isn鈥檛 it.
4. That鈥檚 My Boy
Andy Samberg must have been wishing he hadn鈥檛 quit Saturday Night Live after agreeing to star in this raunchy, cringe-inducing comedy as the uptight estranged grown son of Adam Sandler鈥檚 latest man-child 鈥� a drunken tabloid celebrity who impregnated a sexy high school teacher when he was 13. Sandler lost me long before the shot of an obese stripper gorging herself on bacon and eggs while hanging upside down, one of many witless sight gags shoehorned into this dog鈥檚 breakfast. You know you鈥檙e in trouble when you鈥檙e upstaged by Vanilla Ice, who gamely hams it up as the washed-up rapper he is.
5. Killing Them Softly
Not since being miscast in Troy has Brad Pitt squandered his talents as badly as in his role as a cucumber-cool mob enforcer dispatched to kill two lowlifes for knocking over a mob-run poker game at the onset of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown in this repellent, cynical and gratuitously violent crime drama. Not even James Gandolfini鈥檚 cameo as a dissipated hitman could redeem this pretentious, pointless rubbish.
6. Paranormal Activity 4
Deja boo! That sums up this feeble fourth instalment of the micro-budget horror franchise that, like a certain bad-tempered demon, refuses to die six years later. Cue the grainy visuals, creaking, slowly closing doors, self-moving household objects and tedious waiting game for jump-scares, and all you have is a once-haunting premise about unexplained bumps in the night stripped raw, with familiarity replacing legitimate thrills. It鈥檚 time to give up the ghost.
7. The Devil Inside
While we鈥檙e on the subject of no-longer-scary movies overstaying their welcome, can we please have a moratorium on bad exorcism movies and faux documentaries? This slapdash entry, about a traumatized woman who travels with a documentary filmmaker to Rome, where her mother 鈥� a triple-murderer believed to be possessed 鈥� is locked up in a Catholic mental hospital, doubles as both. It鈥檚 also an unintentional comedy, starting with its absurd declaration that 鈥渢he Vatican did not endorse this film nor aid in its completion,鈥� as if Pope Benedict would even acknowledge it exists, or care.
8. Red Dawn
Did we really need a remake of John Milius鈥檚 jingoistic 1984 action fantasy about Spokane teenagers who rise up against Soviet invaders? This update pitting a guerrilla squad of cute, resourceful teenagers headed by Iraq war veteran Chris Hemsworth (Thor) against North Koreans who attack their town is no less absurd, and every bit as mediocre. 鈥淒ude, we鈥檙e living Call of Duty and it sucks,鈥� says one soldier. He could have been describing this movie.
9. This Means War
Reese Witherspoon is a smart, gifted actress, but man, has she been making some bad career choices. It鈥檚 a good thing she鈥檒l soon be seen in Victoria-raised Atom Egoyan鈥檚 West Memphis Three project Devil鈥檚 Knot, because she did herself no favours signing up for this creepy, mean-spirited and charmless dud about two deceitful CIA super-spies and best friends (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) who simultaneously fall for Witherspoon鈥檚 character, an attractive product-tester, and will stop at nothing to get under the covers with her. This rom-com actioner is as ugly, unfunny and off-putting as its cast is easy on the eyes.
10. Playing for Keeps
If you needed a reminder to take the garbage out before Christmas, just remember that this is what Hollywood does. This clunky rom-com starring Gerard Butler as a hunky, immature former soccer superstar who reconnects with his ex-wife and young son by coaching the boy鈥檚 soccer team is a rancid example. You鈥檒l be shaking your head in disgust and disbelief by the time Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Judy Greer enter the picture as sexy soccer moms who throw themselves at this swaggering, lovable man-whore. The spectacle of Dennis Quaid embarrassing himself as a wealthy, back-slapping adulterer who manipulates the debt-ridden jock, convinced there鈥檚 nothing his wads of cash can鈥檛 buy, is almost as sad and demeaning.
