Francis Ford Coppola accepts his Razzie for Worst Director

Change of plans — instead of "an Oscars post to kick off March," I'm beginning the month by looking back at this year's Razzies. Watch the 45th Razzie® Winner Announcement!

Francis Ford Coppola accepts his Razzie® for Megalopolis.
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In the new world of 2025: Bad is good. Dumb is smart. Ghastly is great. Oh, and winning a Razzie is a good thing. Here's looking at the top of the bottom and bestowing 2024's "Bizarro Best" with the honors they deserve!

Worst Picture : Madame Web

Actor: Jerry Seinfeld / Unfrosted

Actress: Dakota Johnson / Madame Web

Razzie® Redeemer : Pamela Anderson / The Last Showgirl

Supporting Actor : Jon Voight / Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land & Strangers

Supporting Actress : Amy Schumer / Unfrosted

Director : Francis Ford Coppola / Megalopolis

Screen Combo : Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga / Joker: Folie a Deux

Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel : Joker: Folie a Deux

Screenplay : Madame Web, Screenplay by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharples and Claire Parker & S.J. Clarkson

I'm repeating what I wrote in January.

Wow, even the Razzies have made a political statement with their gallows humor about the horse loose in the hospital again. I'm actually impressed.

Speaking of impressive political statements, Francis Ford Coppola made one in his acceptance speech on Instagram.

I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories for @megalopolisfilm , and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!

In this wreck of a world today, where ART is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now.

What an honor to stand alongside a great and courageous filmmaker like Jacques Tati who impoverished himself completely to make one of cinema’s most beloved failures, PLAYTIME! My sincere thanks to all my brilliant colleagues who joined me to make our work of art, MEGALOPOLIS, and let us remind ourselves us that box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future.

I appreciated Coppola's acceptance remarks more than Dinesh D'Souza's, about which I wrote, "At least D'Souza showed up to 'own his bad,' proving he has some sense of humor, but he doesn't seem [to] realize it's not the Hollywood insiders who were voting, it's the fans. Dude, Hollywood doesn't hate your movie, America hates your movie."

That written, between Todd Phillips, my choice for Worst Director, and Coppola, I suspect the Razzie voters voted for Coppola because he's the more famous director. That fits the pattern I noticed nine years ago.

In addition to the covert misogyny I suspect among the voters, there is overt Schadenfreude; the voters seem to delight in finding bad performances by big name performers and creators and using them to bring the highest low. I don't have a problem with that, so I find it to be a useful role for the Razzies.

Even though I think Phillips did a worse job than Coppola with his creative control, I doubt he'd have written such a good acceptance speech, let alone accepted at all. Coppola owned his bad, even though he didn't really think that his movie was actually bad.

On the other hand, Madame Web's bad was so strong I could see its Razzies coming last year, "I'm afraid Madame Web will earn multiple Razzie nominations and might even win some of them." It led the "winners" with three Razzies, Worst Picture, Worst Actress for Dakota Johnson, and Worst Screenplay. Joker: Folie a Deux, Megalopolis, and Unfrosted tied for second with two Razzies each. Jon Voight's roles other than Megalopolis — Reagan, Shadow Land, and Strangers — tied those movies for last place.

Finally, Unfrosted winning two Razzies surprised me. Not only is it likely the first movie with both an Emmy nomination and at least one Razzie nomination, I'm sure it's the first movie with an Emmy nomination and two Razzies. Congratulations?

I'm not done with the movies. Stay tuned for the Oscars post I promised.