We feel that Color of the Night was an attempt at redeeming Bruce Willis from his Hudson Hawk days and painting him as not only an action star but a bit of a sex symbol too. Sure, the storyline and characters are at best troubled, but this thriller-mystery film just seems to miss the mark. As a result, it was awarded the Golden Raspberry for 1994.
Despite not being the best film, it still has its lure, for obvious reasons. Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader gives us a nice summary: “the plot gets so convoluted and farfetched that you still may be scratching your head after the denouement, but you probably won’t be bored.”
1996: Striptease
“The film’s premise is thinner than the heroine’s G-string.” Rita Kempley, we salute you! Despite Demi Moore looking absolutely lush and gorgeous in this film, it’s another film that critics just couldn’t take seriously. Perhaps because the film, like the 1995 Razzie winner (stay tuned!), involved women taking their clothes off, and not much else.
Sure, men would be lured in by the promise of a woman taking off her gear, but cinematically there really isn’t much to behold, apart from the “curves” of Moore’s body. It seems that the script was a filler for the scenes in which Demi Moore seductively dances. Special mention does go out to Burt Reynolds though, with critics remarking it was one of his best performances of the 90s.
1995: Showgirls
Another film about stripping that ended disastrously. Awarded to the 1995 film Showgirls, we find yet another Razzie-worthy film where a beautiful woman takes off her clothes to try and get to the top. As trusted critic Roger Ebert reviewed: “a sleaze fest like Showgirls promises the inside dope on Las Vegas, stripping, and all that stuff. What Showgirls delivers, however, seems basically to be Joe Eszterhas’ masturbatory fantasies.” Enough said.
Adults only, with a ton of nudity where “the sexy parts are when the girls put on their clothes,” this R-rated film is basically only good enough for teenage boys.
1993: Indecent Proposal
Despite being a huge box office hit, bringing in almost $270 million, the film was just morally wrong, and even a bit disturbing. Based on the novel of the same name, this drama was about a newly married couple’s relationship and how they dealt with a real-life test of their loyalty for each other. The test was Robert Redford (who was almost in dirty old man territory by the early 90s) offering newlywed Demi Moore $1 million to spend the night with him.
As you can imagine, feminists and respectable human beings alike didn’t really take to the idea that Demi Moore’s character could be so easily bought. Critics and Razzie award-givers just couldn’t understand the appeal to this film, but we get why audiences loved it. Surely it was a great dinner conversation starter – "would you do it? For a million dollars? A million!"
1992: Shining Through
We love Rotten Tomatoes for its brutal honesty. The synopsis begins: “Kewpie-doll voiced Melanie Griffith does a sexed-up Nancy Drew turn in David Seltzer’s adaptation of Susan Isaac’s novel Shining Through.” R-rated, for Razzie, the film took the top prize in 1992. Even with a saucy Melanie Griffith and the handsome Michael Douglas, the film sees a somewhat predictably “unpredictable” story set in the years of World War II. Yawn.
We weren’t the only ones who thought it either. The most disappointing part about this film was the fact that it had the potential to be something great – if it had remained true to the novel. Focusing more on the sex appeal than the script, this film’s Razzie was well deserved.