<i>Gigli</i> leads Razzie nominations (11109)

Can it get any worse for Hollywood's favorite tabloid couple? Just days after Jennifer Lopez confirmed that she had ended her stormy high-profile engagement to Ben Affleck, Gigli--the movie that sparked their off-screen romance--gets the uncertain honor of leading the pack in nominations for the awards that celebrate the very worst of the American movie industry's annual output. The nominations for the Golden Raspberry, or Razzie awards, for 2003, announced on Monday, included nine for Gigli, a mob comedy starring Affleck and Lopez (as a lesbian hired killer) that critics hated and audiences spurned. The Cat in the Hat, a sometimes risque riff on the children's classic by Dr. Seuss, was just behind with eight Razzie nominations, including worst actor for Mike Myers for a performance award organizers called a "fur-ball hocking desecration."

Lopez and Affleck met on the set of Gigli in late 2001 and were engaged in November 2002. Last September, the couple called off their supposedly secret wedding just days before it was to take place, citing a media invasion of their privacy. The pair, who became known collectively as "Bennifer," have been seen together in public in the months since, although there have been widespread rumors that they were splitting up. A spokesman for Lopez said on Tuesday that the actress-singer had ended her engagement to Affleck.

Lopez may be the front-runner as 2003's worst actress, but other star-crossed screen lovers also had a rough ride with critics and the Razzie judges. Angelina Jolie, who chases romance to geopolitical hot spots in Beyond Borders, also scored a nomination, along with Kelly Clarkson, who chases fellow "American Idol" Justin Guarini through an antic-filled Miami spring break in From Justin to Kelly. Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz grabbed a dual dishonor with worst-actress nods for their high-kicking, crime-fighting return in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Sylvester Stallone, as an evil video-game mastermind set on global domination in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, took his 30th Razzie nomination, more than any actor in the history of the awards, which spoof the Oscars, Hollywood's highest honors.

The 2004 Razzies will be given out on February 28, a day before the Academy Awards. The Razzie awards, which were launched in 1980 by writer John Wilson, offer winners a spray-painted raspberry atop a nest of Super 8 film, although most awards go unclaimed by honorees.

Here is a complete list of the 24th annual Razzie nominations:

Worst Picture: The Cat in the Hat, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, From Justin to Kelly, Gigli, The Real Cancun

Worst Actor: Ben Affleck, Daredevil, Gigli, and Paycheck; Cuba Gooding Jr., Boat Trip, The Fighting Temptations, and Radio; Justin Guarini, From Justin to Kelly; Ashton Kutcher, Cheaper by the Dozen, Just Married, and My Boss's Daughter; Mike Myers, The Cat in the Hat

Worst Actress: Drew Barrymore, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Duplex; Cameron Diaz, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle; Kelly Clarkson, From Justin to Kelly; Angelina Jolie, Beyond Borders and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life; Jennifer Lopez, Gigli

Worst Supporting Actor: Anthony Anderson, Kangaroo Jack; Alec Baldwin, The Cat in the Hat; Al Pacino, Gigli; Sylvester Stallone, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over; Christopher Walken, Gigli and Kangaroo Jack

Worst Supporting Actress: Lainie Kazan, Gigli; Demi Moore, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle; Kelly Preston, The Cat in the Hat; Brittany Murphy, Just Married; Tara Reid, My Boss's Daughter

Worst Screen Couple: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, Gigli; Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd; Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson, From Justin to Kelly; Ashton Kutcher and either Brittany Murphy (Just Married) or Tara Reid (My Boss's Daughter); Mike Myers and either Thing One or Thing Two, The Cat in the Hat

Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie (All Concept/No Content!): 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Cat in the Hat, From Justin to Kelly, The Real Cancun

Worst Remake or Sequel: 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, From Justin to Kelly (Remake of Where the Boys Are and Where the Boys Are '84), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Worst Director: Martin Brest, Gigli; Robert Iscove, From Justin to Kelly; Mort Nathan, Boat Trip; The Wachowskis, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions; Bo Welch, The Cat in the Hat

Worst Screenplay: The Cat in the Hat, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, From Justin to Kelly, Gigli