Georgia attracted more attention this year from the Razzies than the Oscars.
Two films shot in the state did receive Oscar nominations in minor categories: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” for best visual effects and “Coming 2 America” for best hair and makeup.
But four Georgia-created movies captured unwanted nominations from the Razzies, which highlights terrible films as a winking contrast to the Oscars.
>>RELATED: The entire 2022 Razzie nominee list
A film called “Karen,” starring “Orange is the New Black” star Tayrn Manning, was set and shot in Atlanta. It received multiple Razzie nominations: worst movie, worst lead actress (Manning), worst director and screenplay (Cokie Daniels) and worst prequel, remake, ripoff or sequel (an inadvertent remake of “Cruella de Vil”)
The plotline: a blatantly racist woman named Karen (Manning) makes it her personal mission to displace the new Black couple that moved in next door to her.
I saw a screening of “Karen” last year and chose to not write anything. It received a mere 17% positive rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a dismal 22% among viewers.
Nick Allen on Roger Ebert’s film website calls the film “a bland piece of schlock.” Elizabeth Weitzman of The Wrap writes that Manning is “unable to locate a human inside the stereotype.”
Ben Platt, in the film adaptation of the Broadway hit “Dear Evan Hansen,” received a worst actor nomination although complaints about him centered more over the fact he was a 26-year-old unconvincingly trying to play a 16-year-old. Evan Hansen is a socially anxious teen who pretends he was friends with a teen who took his own life and suddenly becomes more popular. Amy Adams, who played the dead boy’s mom, was also hit with worst supporting actress. Platt was also nominated for worst screen couple, which was actually his character singing with anyone else in the film.
Stephen Chbosky was bestowed a worst director nod for “Dear Evan Hansen” as well. The film was shot in Georgia in cities like Fayetteville and Ellijay in 2020 with operations based out of Atlanta’s Blackhall Studios.
While “Dear Evan Hansen” received a dismal 30% score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers who did see the movie gave it a 88% positive rating. The movie only generated $15 million in box office gross.
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times called the movie “a troubling work, one that constructs a devious, superficial and at times comedic plot around adolescent mental-health issues.” Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine said “the movie goes down like a horse pill.”
>>RELATED: My preview of “Dear Evan Hansen” featuring an interview with Chbosky
Bruce Willis released so many bad movies that the Razzies created a special category just for his performances in eight movies, all pilloried. Two of those eight films were produced in Georgia: “Deadlock” (15% positive rating among viewers) and “Survive the Game” (9% positive rating among viewers).
“Deadlock” stars Willis and Patrick Muldoon and shot scenes in rural Southwest Georgia. Jeffrey M. Anderson of Common Sense Media, one of very few critics who bothered to write about “Deadlock,” said it was “yet another ‘Die Hard’ knock-off ― with Willis in the villain role this time ― that does just about everything wrong, from strange motivations to poor use of space and an irksome music score.”
Leslie Felperin of The Guardian wrote bluntly: “Bruce Willis continues his campaign of reputation self-ruin ― not that he has that far to fall ― with this cruddy, derivative action thriller.”
Both were video-on-demand releases.
About the Author
