The honeymoon's over for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, but their mob-comedy flop Gigli really cleaned up Saturday at the Razzies, the first movie to take all six top trophies in the annual dishonorable-mention awards.
Golden Raspberry Awards voters picked Gigli as last year's worst picture, Affleck as worst actor, Lopez as worst actress and the two as worst screen couple. Gigli filmmaker Martin Brest also took the Razzies for worst director and screenplay.
Gigli hit theaters last summer amid the tabloid frenzy over Affleck and Lopez's on-again, off-again wedding plans. They finally announced in January the romance was off.
The movie, which starred Affleck as a thug smitten by Lopez as a lesbian crime colleague, fell short of the record seven Razzies won by Showgirls and Battlefield Earth.
"But those are much better bad movies, if that makes any sense," said Razzies founder John Wilson. "If you sit through them with the right people or the right brand of liquor, they can be strangely entertaining.
"But I don't care how medicated you are or what people you're watching it with, Gigli is just a pain in the posterior. It's one of those things that is, as opposed to enjoyably embarrassing, just skin-crawlingly embarrassing."
Gigli cost US$54 million to make but earned back just US$6 million.
Among other "winners," Sylvester Stallone padded his Razzie resume with a record 10th prize, this time for worst supporting actor in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. Stallone's past Razzies include one for worst actor of the 20th century.
With the 25th annual Razzies coming up next year, the group is considering a special career-achievement prize for Stallone, Wilson said.
In Spy Kids 3-D, "he plays five characters, so technically the whole supporting-actor category could have been made up of his performances," Wilson said.
Demi Moore took the supporting-actress Razzie for her comeback role in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, which was also named worst remake or sequel.
"She tried to come back, and we said, `No, thanks. We chased you away before. Go away again,'" Wilson said.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese