Madonna Film Sweeps RAZZIE Awards

By Christopher Michaud

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Maybe they should just rename these awards "the Madonnas."

Madonna and director-husband Guy Ritchie "Swept Away" the competition with their widely reviled box office bomb of the same name at the 23rd annual Razzie awards on Saturday which "honor" the worst of the worst in Hollywood.

The Razzies are traditionally awarded a day before the Oscars, Hollywood's highest honors which are set for Sunday.

"Swept Away," a remake of Italian director Lina Wertmuller's 1974 classic about a bourgeois woman shipwrecked in the Mediterranean with her yacht's communist cook, swept the Razzies with nods for worst film, worst performance by an actress, worst remake, worst screen couple (Madonna and co-star Adriano Giannini) and worst director Ritchie.

The first cinematic collaboration between the aging pop star and the British director also suffered the ignominious distinction of being the Razzie's lowest-grossing worst film ever, having "earned" a whopping $598,645 in box office receipts, the Razzies award givers said.

Actually Madonna, who can now boast a collection of five worst actress Razzies in her curio cabinet -- not to mention having been crowned worst actress of the century -- had to share the honor this year with fellow pop star Britney Spears.

For her screen debut Spears chose "Crossroads," in which as critics noted she dug deep into her creative vault to transform every fiber of her being into her character of ... an aspiring pop star.

"Crossroads" opens with Spears' character dancing in her underwear to Madonna's "Open Your Heart to Me." So now they have another bond.

WORST ORIGINAL SONG

Spears also grabbed the worst original song honors for "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" from the film.

"Swept Away"'s five "wins" tied the mark for most Razzies set by such unforgettable movie train wrecks as "Mommie Dearest," "The Post Man," "Wild Wild West" and "Freddy Got Fingered."

Seemingly on a roll, Razzie voters also saw fit to bestow its worst supporting actress award on Madonna for her fleeting cameo in the James Bond flick "Die Another Day."

The Razzies, formally administered by the non-profit Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, did not reserve its brickbats for pop stars who think they're actresses, of course.

Italian actor/director and past Oscar winner Roberto Benigni ("Life is Beautiful") apparently gave new meaning to the term wooden acting with his poorly dubbed folly "Pinocchio," which apparently even children didn't want to see during its abortive Christmas release.

Even Hollywood superpower George Lucas and his "Star Wars" cash cow franchise did not escape unscathed. His "disappointing fifth entry from a galaxy far, far too long," as the Razzie folks put it, "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones," snagged Razzies for Hayden Christensen as worst supporting actor and worst screenplay for Lucas himself.

Winners were determined by ballots mailed to 563 Golden Raspberry Award Foundation members throughout 39 U.S. states and a dozen other countries.

The award itself is a handcrafted, golf-ball-sized raspberry atop a mangled reel of Super 8 film. Spray-painted gold, it is said to have an estimated street value of $4.89.

But that, of course, doesn't account for eBay.

03/22/03 14:29 ET