Top 10 Worst Movies To Get Oscar Nominations

Helmed by director and animator Tom McGrath, who’s worked on everything from “Space Jam” to “Megamind”, and headlined by such vocal talents as Alec Baldwin and Steve Buscemi, it’s no surprise that “The Boss Baby” cleaned up at the box office. But let’s be honest, this film, which is about an infant who wears a suit, calls himself “The Boss” and is actually a secret agent, isn’t the kind of film people will be talking about a decade from now. In fact, despite being nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, “The Boss Baby” didn’t even garner the best reviews from film critics; you know, the people that do that sort of thing for a living…

If you had told us back in 2006 that a film starring Adam Sandler in which he plays a man who discovers a remote control that can manipulate time would be nominated for an Academy Award, we would have laughed you out of the room. “Click” is by no means a good movie. Sure, it made copious amounts of money but so do most Adam Sandler flicks. With a measly 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and reviews such as this one from the Wall Street Journal, which called the film “an abomination,” it’s not difficult to see why we were surprised it scored an Oscar nom. But it did, for Best Makeup.

“Batman” and “Batman Returns”, both of which were directed by Tim Burton, are certifiable classics. However, “Batman Forever”, which was directed by Joel Schumacher, is not. Despite a cast that included Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey at the height of his ‘90s fame, the film was a critical disappointment; though not nearly as bad as the film that followed it (which shall not be named). And yet, “Batman Forever” still managed to score an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, though it would lose out to “Braveheart”.

David Fincher, the director that’s given us such cinematic gems as “Fight Club” and “The Social Network”, dropped the ball on this one… and he knows it. Fincher publicly disowned the film and in 2009 quipped, "a lot of people hated Alien 3, but no one hated it more than I did.” Damn, that’s harsh. When he agreed to direct “Alien 3” - his first feature film by the way - he was in his late 20s and working under constant pressure from studio executives. The infamously plagued production still managed to make a pretty penny at the box office en route to an Oscar nom for Best Visual Effects, so it wasn’t a total loss!

With an enormous amount of hype surrounding it, what with its all-star cast and brilliant source material, “Suicide Squad” cruised to a cool $746 million at the box office in 2016; but don’t let the dough fool you. The film, which is about a group of criminals forced to work together in order to bring down an evil witch, was panned by critics and currently holds a 26% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, that didn’t stop it from being nominated for and winning the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. In all honesty, that was one of the film’s few silver linings.

Starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, “The Long Ranger” was one of 2013’s biggest productions. Based on the popular 20th century radio and TV series, the film is about the crime-fighting duo of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, who battle outlaws in the Old West. Unfortunately, the premise failed to connect with audiences and today the film is considered a critical and commercial disappointment, with one critic calling it “Frustrating, lazy and lifeless.” Despite all that, it still managed to earn Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The film’s one bid to save face was dashed when it failed to win in either category.

When it was released, “Waterworld” was the most expensive film ever made. Directed by and starring Kevin Costner - who at the time was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet - the film is about a post-apocalyptic world in which the polar ice caps had melted, causing the oceans to envelope practically all habitable land. The bizarre premise failed to hit the mark with audiences and critics alike and was a flop in the United States. Of course that didn’t stop it from being nominated at the 68th Academy Awards for Best Sound; an award it would lose to “Apollo 13”.

Before you ask: no, we’re not making this up. “Fifty Shades of Grey”, the erotic drama based on the 2011 novel of the same name, scored an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards. The song in question was “Earned It” by The Weeknd and it lost to “Spectre’s” “Writing’s on the Wall”. To say that “Fifty Shades of Grey” isn’t for everyone may seem like an understatement to most critics. Just listen to a few these from respected reviewers, who called it “boring”, “abysmally bad” and “lousy”. Tough crowd.

Of all the “Transformers” films that have been released, one could make the argument that this one is the worst, but it would have some tough competition. Sporting a lowly rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes and peppered with negative reviews from the get-go, many people would describe “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” as terrible. In fact, the Michael Bay directed flick was nominated for a whopping seven Razzies, and “won” for Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay…yikes. But it wasn’t all bad! The film was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing at the 82nd Oscars… but lost to “The Hurt Locker”.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

“Harlem Nights” (1989)

“Eraser” (1996)

“Harry and the Hendersons” (1987)

Without further ado, we present to you what’s possibly the worst movie to have ever been nominated for an Academy Award: “Norbit”. The film, which features Eddie Murphy portraying multiple characters, is about a man attempting to distance himself from his crass, overweight and adulterous wife so that he can woo his childhood crush. “Norbit” pulled in decent numbers at the box office but that didn’t stop Richard Roeper from calling it “offensively bad”. Dwarfing its one Oscar nomination for Best Makeup is eight Razzie nominations, including five for Murphy…three of which he “won”. In the pantheon of bad movies nominated for Oscars, “Norbit” has no equal.