Awards season is on. While the best in the business compete for the most hyped trophies Hollywood has to offer, there is another type of nomination, a denouncement of sorts. Forget Golden Globes or Emmys, the Razzies are here to shine a spotlight on cinematic underachievement in the same season that celebrates excellence.

 And this year, a massive Netflix flick has become a poster child for such ignominy.

What makes this year unusually stark is that Netflix’s high-profile sci-fi film The Electric State, starring Stranger Things breakout Millie Bobby Brown and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, did not just appear on the Razzies’ radar.

It snagged not one but two of their most notorious nods for Worst Picture and Worst Director. With a reported production budget in the vicinity of $320 million, it ranks among Netflix’s most expensive original films ever made.

The screenplay of The Electric State, by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, is a loose adaptation of the acclaimed illustrated novel by Simon Stålenhag. Millie Bobby Brown stars alongside Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, and others in a sprawling cast. Despite the talent and investment, the movie’s creative execution failed to resonate with major awards bodies other than the Razzies.

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So what exactly was this hugely expensive Netflix gamble trying to be, and where did it go wrong?

At the level of its premise, The Electric State promises a post-apocalyptic road-trip science fiction narrative. Set in an alternate 1990s after humanity’s war with sentient robots, the story follows Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphaned teenager who embarks on a perilous journey.

She moves across a dystopian American West after encountering a mysterious robot she believes contains her lost brother’s consciousness. Along the way, she is joined by a roguish smuggler named Keats (Chris Pratt) and an ensemble of robotic companions.

Yet this does not explain where the Russo Brothers go wrong. With a reported $320 million production budget, The Electric State is not only one of the most expensive movies ever made but also the costliest original film in Netflix’s history. For comparison, the combined budget of the last ten Best Picture Oscar winners is less than $230 million.

The 2-hour, 8-minute-long movie opened with 25.2 million global views in its first three days on Netflix, enough to reach the platform’s Top 10, but it slipped down the rankings within its first week, overtaken by titles such as Kraven the Hunter.

The Electric State’s Razzie nods for Worst Picture and Worst Director illustrate a rare intersection of prestige-level investment with widely criticized execution.

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What do you think? Was The Electric State unfairly labeled, or did it deserve its Razzie nods? Share your thoughts.