'Basic Instinct 2' wins 4 Razzies

By David Germain, AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES — Sharon Stone should have trusted her first Basic Instinct and left it alone, according to voters of the Razzies, which mocks the worst of Hollywood.
Basic Instinct 2 won four Razzies on Saturday, including worst picture and worst actress for Stone. The Wayans brothers comedy Little Man placed second with three Razzies, including shared prizes by Shawn and Marlon Wayans for worst actor and worst screen couple. A follow-up to Stone's career-making 1992 hit, Basic Instinct 2 revived her femme-fatale predator for a murder thriller set in London, with relatively unknown British actor David Morrissey inheriting the victim's mantle from Michael Douglas, the star of the first film who did not return for the sequel. Razzies founder John Wilson said that while Stone still looked good in her late 40s, the movie had no other reason to exist. "Yes, she still has some excuse to drop her robe, but the dialogue, the story, the overall attitude of the character is cartoon-like," Wilson said. "You have to sort of wonder, is she vamping the movie or does she think she's giving a serious performance? Is she the lone person on the project who got the joke?" The other Razzies for Basic Instinct 2 were worst screenplay and worst prequel or sequel. Along with the Razzies for the two Wayans, Little Man also won for worst remake or rip-off because it essentially took the premise of a Bugs Bunny cartoon about a pint-sized hoodlum masquerading as a baby and expanded it to feature length, Wilson said. The images of Marlon Wayans' grafted head on a 2 1/2-foot man's body were creepy rather than comical, Wilson said. "I will admit there is 'so stupid it's funny,' but there is also 'so stupid, get out of my face,' and that's what this movie is," Wilson said.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, a Hollywood darling a few years ago with such blockbusters as The Sixth Sense and Signs, was named worst director and worst supporting actor for his fantasy flop, Lady in the Water. Unable to get Disney, which made his previous hits, to back Lady in the Water, Shyamalan decamped to Warner Bros., which produced the movie that was based on a bedtime story the filmmaker dreamed up for his children. The movie follows the plight of a mythical water nymph that turns up in a swimming pool at an apartment complex, whose residents band together to send her back to her otherworldly home. Shyamalan has a pivotal role as a writer whose book will one day bring salvation to humanity. "He cast himself as the savior role of the film on top of everything else," Wilson said. "Shyamalan falls into one of the traps that's almost guaranteed to win you a Razzie, when you let your ego run rampant as that man did." Carmen Electra won for worst supporting actress for Date Movie and Scary Movie 4, the latter featuring her as a character that spoofs Shyamalan's The Village. Robin Williams' road-trip comedy RV was chosen as worst excuse for family entertainment.