The Worst Golden Globe Nominations From 1982 To The Present

The Hollywood Foreign Press has been known for handing out nominations to celebs over thesps and crowd-pleasing hits over artistic fare in hopes to increase TV viewership.  Some nominations and awards have been bought (2011 “Payola” lawsuit) and others will have you ask “how the hell was that nominated?”

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association took it on the chin in 1982 when Meshulam Riklis ‘bought’ a Golden Globe win for his wife at the time Pia Zadora, who has gone down in history as one of the worst actresses of all time.

Here are the worst Golden Globe nominations since Ms. Zadora proved it doesn’t take talent or starring in anything more than the worst movie of the year to get rewarded by The Hollywood Foreign Press.

In alphabetical order:

Alice In Wonderland (2010)

The only thing as head-scratching as how this pulled in over $1 billion at the global box office, is how it landed 3 Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Johnny Depp’s grating performance.

Burlesque (2010)

Sony hit the Golden Globe jackpot in 2010, landing numerous nominations for their two end-of-the-year stinkers Burlesque and The Tourist.  The integrity challenged Hollywood Foreign Press actually handed a Best Picture nomination to this terrible movie.

Butterfly (1982)

Largely considered the worst, or at best, one of the worst movies of 1982 — Butterfly almost perfectly encapsulates what utter bullshit the Golden Globes are. This cheap dud of a movie had the financier Meshulam Riklis spend lavishly on members of the Hollywood Foreign Press during a trip to Vegas and bought his wife Pia Zadora a win for New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture.  Zadora has gone down as one of the worst actresses in the history of film and this ‘win’ ended as a complete embarrassment to the Foreign Press.  Orson Welles also humiliated himself by co-starring in this disaster and also landed a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Father of the Bride Part II (1995)

Steve Martin landed a Best Actor nomination for this assembly line sequel, rewarding the comedic giant for paycheck work — which was during his worst creative period on the screen.

It’s Complicated (2009)

This Nancy Meyers rom-com is the type of movie studios release over the Christmas frame as light counter-programming to more serious awards fare — not the type of movie that racks up Best Picture, Best Actress for Meryl Streep and Best Screenplay for Nancy Meyers.

Junior (1994)

Arnold Schwarzenegger landed a Best Actor nomination for getting pregnant in this moronic movie, which shows there’s no depth the Hollywood Foreign Press won’t plunge to get A-list celebs to show up to their awards show in hopes for high TV viewership.  Junior landed three nominations, including Emma Thompson for Best Actress.  It’s hard to regain credibility when you nominate horseshit like this.

Labor Day (2014)

Just because Kate Winslet is in a movie, does not mean she needs to be showered with accolades.  Labor Day was a critical and commercial failure that actually had its planned end of 2013 limited awards qualifying run canceled by Paramount and the movie was pushed back to January 31, 2014.  The Hollywood Foreign Press didn’t seem to mind that the movie wasn’t eligible as a 2013 contender and gave Winslet a Best Actress Nomination.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Meryl Streep’s hilariously over-the-top performance was awarded a Best Supporting Actress nomination for this pointless remake.  She’s great, but not every performance is.

Nine (2009)

Nine is a perfect example of Harvey Weinstein’s specialty – taking a piece of shit movie and backing it with millions of dollars in an industry-wide awards blitz to convince those very people that whatever picture he is peddling has importance.  He worked wonders on this disaster and landed Nine 5 Golden Globes noms — including Best Picture, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Actress for Marion Cotillard, and Best Supporting Actress for Penélope Cruz.

Nuts (1987)

Nuts was another critical and commercial misfire that landed 3 Golden Globe nominations since the Hollywood Foreign Press loves to shower Barbra Streisand (she’s been recognized 16 times) with love even for her crummiest projects.  Nuts was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress for Barbra Streisand, and Best Supporting Actor for Richard Dreyfuss.

Patch Adams (1998)

This monstrosity landed a Best Picture and Best Actor nomination for Robin Williams.  Patch Adams is a sick and depressing movie — and despite some of the worst reviews of 1998, it was a huge hit with American auds and the Foreign Press.

The Producers (2005)

This misbegotten big-screen version of the Broadway hit bombed with both critics and audiences, but the Hollywood Foreign Press loved it enough to hand it 4 nominations — including Best Picture, Best Actor for Nathan Lane, and Best Supporting Actor Will Ferrell (?).

Ready To Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994)

Robert Altman’s poorly reviewed film is another example of Harvey Weinstein’s awards hype specialty, for landing accolades for a terrible movie.  Best Picture of 1994?  Are you kidding me?  No Golden Globes for Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, but two nominations for this piece of shit?

Red (2010)

It’s hard to take any award show seriously, but nominating a throwaway action/comedy like RED for Best Picture either indicates payola or this voting body only saw a handful of movies in 2010 and decided to nominate them all.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)

Joel Grey landed a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his performance in yellowface as the Korean character Chiun.  Yikes!

Sabrina (1995)

This pointless remake of Billy Wilder’s 1954 picture of the same name, was shrugged off by both critics and audiences.  The Hollywood Foreign Press thought this had merit and handed Sabrina 3 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Harrison Ford.

Square Dance (1987)

Rob Lowe landed a Best Supporting Actor nomination for this critically panned movie that nobody saw during its release ($225,358 at the box office) and has basically been forgotten.

The Tourist (2010)

The Tourist was critically reviled and Sony lobbied for this stinker, which landed a Best Picture nomination and the star-struck Hollywood foreign press also gave away a Best Actor and Actress noms to Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.