In commemoration of Land of the Lost earning seven nominations at this year’s Razzies, I think it’s only fitting that I serve up a review of this prehistoric waste of time.

Back when Will Ferrell was on Saturday Night Live, he was a king. He owned every scene he was in…which was pretty much all of them. But, like so many popular comedians on that show, he left at the height of his popularity to make bigger bucks on the bigger screen.

At first, movies like Old School and Anchorman seemed to promise a high quality of comedy…something many other SNL alumni-turned-movie-actors can’t claim. But as more and more scripts came his way, so too did the regrettable projects. And thus, Land of the Lost.

Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a seemingly simple-minded scientist who, as it would turn out, is actually one of the greatest minds of our era. Ridiculed and ostracized for his bizarre space/time warp theories, Marshall finally builds a makeshift time-warp machine to prove his critics wrong…then it’s – accidentally– off to a land of dinosaurs and monkey-men.

Land of the Lost is (technically) based on the TV show of the same name, but honestly, it bares little to no resemblance to the source material whatsoever. That can pay off sometimes, after all, the reimagined Battlestar Galactica is far superior to the 70s version. However, this is no such case. It really raises the question why a profane, occasionally risqué film would base itself on a family-friendly 70s television show. Not that I particularly care that it’s edgier than the show, I’m just wondering how many parents took their kids to see something “from when they were a kid”. Whoops.

The movie is occasionally funny, but for the most part, feels as though every joke is only half told…like the scene changes before the punchline actually kicks in. The plot is almost non-existent, and instead, each scene feels like it is a sketch, separate and isolated from every other scene. That might be forgivable if every “sketch” was actually funny, but despite Will Ferrell and Danny McBride’s natural chemistry, even they can’t salvage a half-assed script with half-formed jokes.

Perhaps many of the “incomplete jokes” can be credited to the fact that a large portion of this movie was pure improvisation. Improv may be more challenging and impressive if you can pull it off, but unfortunately for Ferrell, you don’t get bonus points simply for effort.

Land of the Lost is another chapter in the dumb-comedy line up of many of Ferrell’s films. Diehard fans may want to see this simply to see their favourite man-child doing his thing, but I just recommend popping in one of the SNL: The Best of Will Ferrell DVDs instead.

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[will-ferrell]

Ah, the Razzies. As the unofficial counterpart to the Academy Awards, the Golden Raspberry Award serves as the measuring stick for the worst of the worst of Hollywood’s offerings over the past year. Airing one day before the Oscars, The Razzies lets regular people vote and decide on who deserves to get their special “honour”.

Worst Picture of 2009
All About Steve
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Land of the Lost
Old Dogs
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Worst Actor of 2009
All Three Jonas Brothers in Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience
Will Ferrell in Land of the Lost
Steve Martin in The Pink Panther 2
Eddie Murphy in Imagine That
John Travolta in Old Dogs

Worst Actress of 2009
Beyoncé Knowles in Obsessed
Sandra Bullock in All About Steve
Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie
Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Sarah Jessica Parker in Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Worst Supporting Actor of 2009
Billy Ray Cyrus in Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hugh Hufner in Miss March
Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Jorma Taccone in Land of the Lost
Marlon Wayans in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Worst Supporting Actress of 2009
Candice Bergen in Bride Wars
Ali Larter in Obsessed
Sienna Miller in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Kelly Preston in Old Dogs
Julie White in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Worst Screen Couple of 2009
Any Two or More Jonas Brothers in Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience
Sandra Bullock & Bradley Cooper in All About Steve
Will Ferrell & Any Co-star, Creature or “Comic Riff” in Land of the Lost
Shia LaBeouf & either Megan Fox or Any Transformer in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Kristen Stewart & either Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner in The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Worst Remake, Rip-off, or Sequel of 2009
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Land of the Lost
The Pink Panther 2
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Worst Director of 2009
Michael Bay for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Walt Becker for Old Dogs
Brad Silberling for Land of the Lost
Stephen Sommers for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Phil Traill for All About Steve

Worst Screenplay of 2009
All About Steve
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Land of the Lost
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Worst Picture of the Decade
Battlefield Earth
Freddy Got Fingered
Gigli
I Know Who Killed Me
Swept Away

Worst Actor of the Decade
Ben Affleck
Eddie Murphy
Mike Myers
Rob Schneider
John Travolta

Worst Actress of the Decade
Mariah Carey
Paris Hilton
Lindsay Lohan
Jennifer Lopez
Madonna

What do you think? Did they miss anybody worth trashing?