10 Actors Who Didn’t Deserve Their Razzie Nominations

Like with any other profession, it’s always nice to win an award. Perhaps with the sole exception of the film industry, but that’s just when it comes to the Golden Raspberry Awards, which sarcastically “celebrate” the biggest cinematic duds of the previous calendar year. “The Razzies,” as they’re most frequently called, are the opposite of the type of award a performer wants to “win,” whether it’s for their specific performance or for the film they’re starring in. Though, as bad as the movie you were hoping would take off instead getting trounced at the Razzies is, it is assuredly worse to get a nomination for your specific performance.

It’s a hard thing to shake off and, worse yet, sometimes the Razzies don’t even really get it right. They’ll nominate your performance because the movie housing it cleaned up when it came time to announce the nominations. Sometimes it’s worthy of that nomination, sometimes it’s better than the movie surrounding it and should be acknowledged as such.

1) Adam Sandler for Mr. Deeds, Happy Gilmore, and Big Daddy

Adam Sandler holds the record for the most nominations in a single year, with a massive 11 of them in 2012 alone, and he deserved every last one of them. But for his work in 1996’s Happy Gilmore? Not at all. Same thing for his “win” in 2000 for 1999’s Big Daddy. There’s even a strong argument to be made he didn’t deserve it for his lead role in Mr. Deeds.

His other nomination the same year as Mr. Deeds, Eight Crazy Nights, was well deserved. But that’s not all. The Razzies have always had it out for Sandler and, to be fair to the Razzies, they’re often right to nominate him. For instance, in 1997 for Bulletproof, in 1999 for The Waterboy, in 2001 for Little Nicky, in 2008 for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and, of course, in 2012 for Jack and Jill. At least the success of Uncut Gems in 2019 got him the Razzie Redeemer Award nomination in 2020.

2) Tom Cruise for War of the Worlds

Tom Cruise has had a long career and, for the most part, he and his movies have avoided the Golden Raspberry Awards. But there are some exceptions. And, of the exceptions, some make sense and some don’t.

When it comes to the ones that don’t make sense, there’s Worst Screen Couple for Interview with the Vampire, an award that he and Brad Pitt “won.” Then there’s his Worst Actor nom for War of the Worlds, which comes out of left field. It’s not his best work, but it’s far from one of the worst lead performances on 2005. It makes sense he was nominated for Cocktail and The Mummy, but War of the Worlds?

3) Hayden Christensen for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Hayden Christensen deserved his Worst Supporting Actor nomination for Star Wars: Attack of the Clones was well deserved. But for Attack of the Clones he can’t be fully held accountable, as many of his scenes were fueled by George Lucas’ attempt at romantic dialogue.

Worst Supporting Actor for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, though? It’s more like the Razzies were jumping on the bandwagon of shading the actor more than recognizing it as the improved performance it was. Not to mention, he wasn’t even “Supporting” in Revenge of the Sith, he was the lead.

4) Megan Fox for Jennifer’s Body

She was also nominated for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that same year, and it feels like her nom for Jennifer’s Body was more for her work in that Autobots movie than for her work in the cult classic, as if they were just lumped together without any attempt to judge the performances separately for their own merits.

The fact the film has become a cult classic is fully logical. It’s a smart movie, and it’s well-acted, which includes Fox’s performance.

5) Ben Affleck for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Let this entry stand as a defense of both Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill’s work in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. This seems to be a case of the Razzies finding an entire movie to be weak more than the individual levels of quality in the two lead performances. In short, they just don’t deserve to be lined up next to Gerard Butler for Gods of Egypt, Robert De Niro for Dirty Grandpa, and Ben Stiller for Zoolander 2.

Jesse Eisenberg, however, very much deserved his Worst Supporting Actor nomination for his work as Lex Luthor. The same goes for Affleck in terms of his nominations for Jersey Girl, Surviving Christmas, Gigli, Paycheck, and fellow superhero movie Daredevil.

[RELATED: Lady Gaga Roasts Joker Folie a Deux on SNL (And It’s Hilarious)]

6) Sylvester Stallone for Rambo: First Blood Part II

Sylvester Stallone deserved his nominations for Rambo: Last Blood, Bullet to the Head, Escape Plan, Tango & Cash, Rocky V, Oscar, The Specialist, Assassins, Driven, Judge Dredd, Grudge Match, and Over the Top. He also deserved his “wins” for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Expend4bles, Rhinestone and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

He did not deserve to be nominated for Worst Actor for Rambo: First Blood Part II, however, much less “win” for it. He also arguably didn’t deserve to be nominated for Lock Up, Daylight, or Cobra. But First Blood Part II is the real standout. It’s a pretty iconic performance and there are several moments where he sells the character’s conflicted and trauma-laced past as well as he did in First Blood. Ironically, though, he did deserve it for his lethargic return to the role of John Rambo in Rambo III.

7) Kristen Wiig for Wonder Woman 1984

As a whole, Wonder Woman 1984 doesn’t work. And it’s certainly a massive disappointment considering the strength of the original film. And, as a character, Barbara Minerva is one of its problems. She’s written to be overly sheepish then overly confident, with nothing in between, and that’s how Kristen Wiig played her. That’s the fault of the script and filmmaker, not Wiig. You could put Meryl Streep in that role and she wouldn’t do any better.

Wiig did deserve the nom for Zoolander 2, though. But like with many other entries here, that was due in large part to the role she was tasked to play and the script she was working with. At least she came off better than Benedict Cumberbatch.

8) Jason Statham for Meg 2: The Trench

Meg 2: The Trench is about as good as a PG-13 sequel to a PG-13 movie about a gargantuan prehistoric shark could be. It’s not high art, but it’s certainly better than fellow Worst Picture nominations Expend4bles, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Exorcist: Believer, and “winner” Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.

It’s also a bit of a mystery why Jason Statham was nominated however. Up until this point action legend Statham had never been nominated for a Razzie, he was essentially the opposite of the oft-nominated Stallone (though, to be fair to the Razzies, Statham is a much better actor than Stallone). But Meg 2 is just an odd first time to get the nom. Had it happened for In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, sure, that would make a degree of sense.

9) FKA Twigs for The Crow

The Crow (2024) had such a hard time getting to the big screen it had such a surplus of negativity working against it that it was never going to succeed. Then again, The Crow should never have been remade to begin with.

As it turned out, the 2024 take was just fully average, even with Bill Skarsgård in the lead. It’s the type of movie you forget as soon as the credits roll. So, its nomination for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel wasn’t entirely unwarranted. What was entirely unwarranted was FKA Twigs’ nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. Her chemistry with Skarsgård was undoubtedly the best part of the remake, and there’s no chemistry with just one strong performance in play.

10) Bryce Dallas Howard for Argylle & Jurassic World Dominion

Bryce Dallas Howard has been nominated for the Razzie’s Worst Actress award twice and neither time was warranted. First was in 2023 for Jurassic World Dominion. Not only is Jurassic World Dominion a turgid and bland Jurassic movie(on top of the Jurassic World trilogy being a letdown), but the character arc of Howard’s Claire Dearing is the best part of it. And, per usual, Howard does a great job with the role, especially given the scripts’ limitations.

Then there’s her 2025 nomination for 2024’s Argylle. That’s another case of the movie being worse than her performance. It’s not an awful film, hence its lack of a nomination for Worst Picture (which went to Madame Web, as did Worst Actress to Dakota Johnson), but its entirely forgettable. It’s not at all fair to say that Howard’s work in it is one of the worst performances of 2024, and the same goes for Ariana DeBose, who was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for her roles in both Argylle and Kraven the Hunter.