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The Razzies suck, but at least they stuck it to ‘Hillary’s America’ – Metro US

The Razzies suck, but at least they stuck it to ‘Hillary’s America’

Hillary's America
D’Souza Media

Here’s our conundrum: We hate the Razzies. We’ve railed against the anti-Oscars before, but short version: They are, consistently, deeply unimaginative, lazy and reactionary — moreso, even, than the awards body they’re ostensibly sending up. At worst they punish titles that think outside the box and failed at the box office, perpetuating a tired “bombs = bad” mentality. At best they nick jokes already tweeted out by thousands, millions throughout the year. The only upside is that when they come down hard on a movie later christened as a classic — say, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” which they crapped on back in 1980 — they eventually look like idiots.

On the other hand, this year the Razzies bestowed five nominations upon Dinesh D’Souza’s “Hillary’s America.”

We’re conflicted. Not unlike the pacifist who can’t help but squee with joy watching white supremacist droog Richard Spencer getpunched in the face, we’re tickled to see last year’s worst, most evil movie humiliated in the public square. Though it was the top grossing documentary of 2016, the classification is misleading: It’s riddled with lies, falsehoods and arguments even Kellyanne Conway would find hard to defend. It can’t be squarely blamed for getting a conman/sociopath elected president, but it didn’t hurt.

For “Hillary’s America”’s copious sins — not limited to a song-and-dance number featuring the far-right pundit/convicted felon on piano — it was hit with five Razzie nominations. That’s as many as plague “Dirty Grandpa” and “Gods of Egypt” — two titles, incidentally, that are a lot more entertaining than their reps, but more on that in a sec. Kudos to the group for recognizing D’Souza as not only a terrible filmmaker and human, but also a terrible thespian. He got a Worst Actor nod, while poor Becky Turner, tasked with playing the politician who won the popular vote in November (usually shot from behind), scored one for Worst Actress.

RELATED: The worst films of 2016, starring Dinesh D’Souza

Here’s where the kind words end. The rest of the noms are the usual mish-mash of the obvious, the undeserved and the inexplicable. “Batman v Superman” leads with nine nominations, but whatever: It’s a miserable slog, but it has nothing on “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” which managed a mere three citations (including two for Johnny Depp: Worst Supporting Actor and Worst Screen Combo, paired with his “Vomitously Vibrant Costume,” which alright).

We won’t defend “Gods of Egypt” as anything but delightfully nutty, with its Trumpian obsession with gold and 10-foot-tall gods. But surely it deserved less hate than “Collateral Beauty,” which only nabbed one (and for its ensemble cast of overqualified greats). Then again, that red-hot fever dream of a holiday movie is so painfully earnest and good-intentioned that running it through the mud again would have just seemed cruel.

We also can’t quite make a case for “Dirty Grandpa,” but it’s such a nakedly, epically foul movie that it will probably seem like a classic in about three months. If anything, it featured Robert De Niro’s most awake, most committed work in years. And for his efforts he received a Worst Actor nom. Meanwhile, you’d have to be a maniac to think Aubrey Plaza’s supersized-Aubrey turn is anything but inspired. Well, the Razzies are those maniacs; she’s there on the Worst Supporting Actress roster, alongside co-star Julianne Hough.

The Razzies have their bizarre obsessions, automatically nominating performers no matter what they do. Absent any Sylvester Stallone or Lindsay Lohan appearances last year, they went with Nicolas Cage. No, it wasn’t for the shark-vs.-Navy movie “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.” Nor was it for “The Trust” or “Pay the Ghost” or whatever other low-rent movies he made because he has serious debt issues and has to say yes to everything. It was for “Snowden,” in which he had maybe two scenes? And he wasn’t weird nor did a wacky accent? We should be inspiring Cage to do more legit movies, not punishing him for just being Nicolas Cage.

Anyway, at least the transcendently stupid bomb “The Brothers Grimsby” escaped the Razzies’ wrath. And, yes, piling on D’Souza is nearly enough to give the Razzies a pass. This year.

The full line-up:

WORST PICTURE

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
“Dirty Grandpa”
“Gods of Egypt”
“Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”
“Independence Day: Resurgence”
“Zoolander No. 2”

WORST ACTOR

Ben Affleck, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Gerard Butler, “Gods of Egypt & London Has Fallen”
Henry Cavill, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Robert de Niro, “Dirty Grandpa”
Dinesh D’Souza [as Himself], “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”
Ben Stiller, “Zoolander No. 2”

WORST ACTRESS

Megan Fox, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”
Tyler Perry, “BOO! A Medea Halloween”
Julia Roberts, “Mother’s Day”
Becky Turner [as Hillary Clinton], “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”
Naomi Watts, “Divergent Series: Allegiant” & “Shut-In”
Shailene Woodley, “Divergent Series: Allegiant”

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Julianne Hough, “Dirty Grandpa”
Kate Hudson, “Mother’s Day”
Aubrey Plaza, “Dirty Grandpa”
Jane Seymour, “Fifty Shades of Black”
Sela Ward, “Independence Day: Resurgence”
Kristen Wiig, “Zoolander No. 2”

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nicolas Cage / “Snowden”
Johnny Depp, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”
Will Ferrell, “Zoolander No. 2”
Jesse Eisenberg, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Jared Leto, “Suicide Squad”
Owen Wilson, “Zoolander No. 2”

WORST SCREEN COMBO

Ben Affleck & His BFF (Baddest Foe Forever) Henry Cavill, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Any 2 Egyptian Gods or Mortals, “Gods of Egypt”
Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume, “Alice Through the Looking Glass”
The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors, “Collateral Beauty”
Tyler Perry & That Same Old Worn Out Wig, “BOO! A Medea Halloween”
Ben Stiller and His BFF (Barely Funny Friend) Owen Wilson, “Zoolander No. 2”

WORST DIRECTOR

Dinesh D’Souza and Bruce Schooley, “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”
Roland Emmerich, “Independence Day: Resurgence”
Tyler Perry, “BOO! A Medea Halloween”
Alex Proyas, “Gods of Egypt”
Zack Snyder, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
Ben Stiller, “Zoolander No. 2”

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL

“Alice Through the Looking Glass”
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Dawn of Justice”
“Fifty Shades of Black”
“Independence Day: Resurgence”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows”
“Zoolander No. 2”

WORST SCREENPLAY

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
“Dirty Grandpa”
“Gods of Egypt”
“Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party”
“Independence Day: Resurgence”
“Suicide Squad”

Follow Matt Prigge on Twitter @mattprigge