Major Movies Split Oscars, “Dirty Love” Cleans up at Razzies

It was THE week-end in the movie business. The fashions, the gift bags, the ugly statuettes were all on display. While the Oscars wound up rather widely divided among the few decent films made this last year, the Golden Raspberries (given for the worst of celluloid) were dominated by a single film, “Dirty Love.”

The Oscars began far too early in the day for gentlemen to arrive in black-tie, but this being California, the rules are a bit different. George Clooney’s best supporting actor award was, as he noted, a hint that he wasn’t getting best director. Ang Lee’s best director signaled to the world that “Brokeback Mountain” wasn’t going to win best picture, and the more savvy handicappers would have realized that when the film won best adaptation from another art form. Best picture went to “Crash,” a disjointed study of race relations in Hollywood’s own backyard.

And except for Philip Seymour Hoffman's best actor award for "Capote," who really cares? The idea of a competition among artists is laughable. Consider the idea of awards to the 19th Century Impressionists -- best watercolor still life or portrait, best use of oil paint on a canvass or piece of wood, best use of an ear to impress a woman. Naturally, the frail egos of the arts seem to need this kind of validation of their purpose, but only because the society in which they operate judges everything by dollars and cents.

That said, there is a place in the arts for awards for the worst. People who crank out lousy work should be told that it’s lousy in the hope that they don’t do it again. Or at very least as a warning to others who may commit similar atrocities on screen, page or, indeed, website. Thus, the Golden Raspberries, also known as the Razzies, are a much more useful tool than the Oscars.

The full list of Raspberry winners is a bit long for this journal to recap, but the film “Dirty Love,” captured four Razzies: worst picture, worst director (John Asher), worst actress and worst screenplay (Jenny McCarthy for both). Kim Williamson of Boxoffice Magazine wreviewed it writing, “You can’t really like a movie that features a beautiful young woman who sometimes is naked and you end up leaving the theatre wishing you could see less of her.” A word to the wise should be sufficient.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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