On January 23, 2007, the United Critics Organization (UCO) announced M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water as the worst film of 2006. The award was the highest, or rather the lowest, honor in the long list of underachievers recognized by the organization's first Annual GAG Awards, presented by 7M Pictures. The awards, currently in their infancy, recognize some of the biggest cinematic tragedies of the past year as well as some of the more forgettable performances.

Among the big winners (or should it be losers?) were Shyamalan with Lady in the Water, which took home not only the Worst Picture nod, but the Worst Screenplay award as well. From this voter's perspective (and yes, I am an actual member of the UCO) Shyamalan's movie was bad, but by no means the worst film of the year. My nominations must have fallen upon the deaf ears of the other members, which are mostly made up of critics from around Ohio and Internet publications. My worst five of the year included Marie Antoinette, Basic Instinct 2, Bloodrayne, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, and Click.

Another big winner of the night was singer-turned-bad-actress Jessica Simpson, who took home the award for Worst Actress for her phoned in performance as a pair of breasts that talks in the dubiously unfunny Employee of the Month. Co-Star Dax Shephard was also nominated, but in a category for the gentlemen - he finished as the runner up in the Worst Supporting Actor category, which was won by Home of the Brave's Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

But while some of the awards were of a unanimous nature, the night did not end without some surprises. Director Uwe Boll, whose year was so bad that he offered to fight some of his toughest critics, was shut out from the awards even though he garnered three nominations. The category of Worst Sequel was also a surprise, at least to me, with The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause defeating Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction by a narrow margin. It begs the question: How can any film be worse than Basic Instinct 2? I leave you to ponder.

When asked to comment on the awards, Kevin Carr, lead film critic of 7M Pictures and President of the UCO had this to offer: "Anyone can make a bad movie. However, it takes a special talent to make a film so bad that it leaves a lasting impression for months to come. All of the nominees should be honored for this recognition."