# Least deserved Oscar **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137 "2004-03-13T23:00:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/41 "2004-03-14T21:36:57Z")
Mary Maitlin, or whoever the deaf actress was who won for _Children of a Lesser God_. No range whatever to her performance, just angry deaf girl, and her co-star did all her lines for her. And _Gladiator_ for Best Picture? Please. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/42 "2004-03-15T00:00:45Z")
**Shrek** winning the Best Animated Movie Oscar over **Monsters Inc.** Not that I didn’t enjoy **Shrek,** but it’s obvious it won’t hold its appeal the way **Monsters Inc.** will in ten years, much less fifty. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/43 "2004-03-15T00:31:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Shakespeare in Love** was the most deserving best Oscar choice in the past twenty years; unquestionably the best movie of the year, and possibly the best script ever written for the screen. What he said. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/44 "2004-03-15T00:43:23Z")
Celine Dion’s awful, Bombastic “My heart will go on” beating out Elliot Smith’s (RIP ☹ )poignant and beautiful “Miss Misery” for best song. I have never watched the Oscars since. ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/45 "2004-03-15T01:36:47Z")
> [@skutir](#): > > This year, Best Song should NOT have gone to the hobbit movie. The movie did not have the best song, by any argument – it was the weakest of the ones performed at the Oscars. Dont know have you heard the song elsewhere and are basing your opinion on that, but Annie Lennox didnt do a very good job of performing at the Oscars… Its one of my favourite songs recently and while I thought the CD version of the song was very good, (arent they always?), she wasnt that night. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/46 "2004-03-15T01:37:04Z")
**Oliver!** over **2001: A Space Oddessey** for Best Picture in 1968 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/47 "2004-03-15T04:01:36Z")
> [@UncaStuart](#): > > As much as I like Judi Dench, she didn’t deserve Best Supporting for her 8-minute turn in _Shakespeare in Love_. Give her credit. Even though she was gracious when she accepted the award, it was apparent from her speech that she thought that her brief role didn’t deserve it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/48 "2004-03-15T04:25:43Z")
> [@Cat Fight](#): > > Word. If anything, the script was the weakest element of the entire film. How on earth was the script anything short of terrific? I again notice that most people equate SCREENWRITING, or a screenplay, with WRITING DIALOGUE, or the dialogue itself. So “Lost in Translation,” which used dialogue very sparingly, is said to be a poor script; “Shakespeare in Love,” which had elegant and intellectual dialogue, is claimed to have been the best script of the last 20 years. SiL was a great movie though… I guess a better counterexample would be David Mamet, who is said to be a good screenwriter because of his clever and realistic dialogue, even though a lot of his scripts are actually quite horrible. Dialogue is a small part of screenwriting. Screenwriting is more about planning out the sequence of events and scenes in a way that conveys a story. A good movie should be able to get 90% of the story across if the sound’s off and you can’t read lips; that’s what sets a good screenwriter apart from a bad one. I thought the writing of “Lost in Translation” was just tremendous. A screenwriter has to know when to make the characters shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/49 "2004-03-15T04:28:00Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > 😕 Do you mean _ **José** _ Ferrer? I’ve seen _Cyrano de Bergerac_ twice, and that’s not at all how he speaks, leaving aside the question of whether his performance was Oscar-worthy. Arggh. You are correct, Mel is his son, IIRC. But he was extremely stiff and unworthy of an Oscar in that film. Then there were the rubber pikes. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/50 "2004-03-15T04:49:06Z")
1. _Oliver!_ wins Best Picture over _2001_. 'nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/51 "2004-03-15T04:56:05Z")
No one’s mentioned Marisa Tomei yet? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/52 "2004-03-15T05:12:24Z")
> [@Selkie](#): > > No one’s mentioned Marisa Tomei yet? Yes, they have. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/53 "2004-03-15T05:16:03Z")
There’s also 1942 where the insufferable Mrs. Miniver beat such clearly better movies as Yankee Doodle Dandy and The Magnificent Ambersons. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/54 "2004-03-15T05:31:53Z")
> [@Sir Prize](#): > > Give her credit. Even though she was gracious when she accepted the award, it was apparent from her speech that she thought that her brief role didn’t deserve it. Oh yes, sometimes I can be too brief. She had made a number of statements from the time of her nomination that indicated she was embarrassed by the situation. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/55 "2004-03-15T05:34:01Z")
Hey, finally hit 200 posts. Burning up the Interweb at 40 posts per year! ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/56 "2004-03-15T05:46:08Z")
**Unca Stuart** , you should get some sort of prize. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/57 "2004-03-15T06:01:09Z")
> [@AndrewT](#): > > Yes, they have. To be fair, you were pipped on the nomination of “2001”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/58 "2004-03-15T06:04:37Z")
I’ve always stuck to the opinion that Judi Dench’s nomination and win for _Shakespeare In Love_ were intended to make up for her Best Actress loss to Helen Hunt the year before. Her Victoria in _Mrs. Brown_ was a less notable performance than whatever the hell Helen Hunt was doing in _As Good As It Gets_? My ass. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/59 "2004-03-15T06:59:48Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Arggh. You are correct, Mel is his son, IIRC. No, José and Mel were unrelated. José Ferrer’s son (by Rosemary Clooney) is actor Miguel Ferrer of the TV series _LateLine_ and _Crossing Jordan_. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137/60 "2004-03-15T15:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Ghostwind_ > Least deserved would be Michael Moore for “Bowling in Columbine”. Not because of the subject matter, but because he admitted to staging several parts of the documentary Cite. > [@](#): > > …and engaging in poetic/creative license to generate incidents which were not factual but did contribute to the flow of the story. No he didn’t. He edited. Just like every other filmmaker does. Do you want me to explain editing to you? > [@](#): > > Pretty much shoots down what a documentary is supposed to be as I understand it, yet he was given the award… Read the Academy’s guidelines for what a Documentary is. _Bowling For Columbine_ falls easily within these bounds. There is absolutely no question that the film was a documentary (unless you’re one of those nutty right wing “take his Oscar off him because he dissed Bush” whingers). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserved-oscar/234137.md?page=4)