# Most undeserving Best Picture winners of the past 25 years. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248 "2009-02-24T19:09:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/1 "2009-02-24T19:09:48Z")
Please rank, in order, the \*\*three \*\*most undeserving winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture in the last quarter century: a 1st place vote is worth three points, a 2nd is worth two, and a 3rd one. Hopefully we can settle this once and for all. We’re starting with 1984. You can see all the winners and nominees [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture#1980s). Below I’ll list the winners, along with the films’ most notable competition for the prize; an asterisk denotes a film that was not actually nominated for Best Picture. Your vote isn’t entirely context dependent, but if a movie won in an unusually weak year (or bested an “obviously” superior film), you may wish to take that into consideration. 1984 – _Amadeus_ (_The Killing Fields_) 1985 – _Out of Africa_ (_The Color Purple, Witness_) 1986 – _Platoon_ (_Hannah and Her Sisters_) 1987 – _The Last Emperor_ (_Broadcast News, Moonstruck_) 1988 – _Rain Man_ (\*Mississippi Burning, The Accidental Tourist, _Big_) 1989 – _Driving Miss Daisy_ (_Born on the 4th of July, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot_) 1990 – _Dances With Wolves_ (_Goodfellas_) 1991 – _The Silence of the Lambs_ (_JFK_) 1992 – _Unforgiven_ (_A Few Good Men_) 1993 – _Schindler’s List_ (_The Fugitive_) 1994 – _Forrest Gump_ (_Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show_) 1995 – _Braveheart_ (\*Apollo 13, Babe, \*Toy Story, _Se7en_) 1996 – _The English Patient_ (_Fargo, Jerry Maguire_) 1997 – _Titanic_ (_L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting_) 1998 – _Shakespeare in Love_ (_Saving Private Ryan_) 1999 – _American Beauty_ (_The Insider, The Sixth Sense, The Cider House Rules_) 2000 – _Gladiator_ (_Traffic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon_) 2001 – _A Beautiful Mind_ (_The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gosford Park_) 2002 – _Chicago_ (_The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Gangs of New York_) 2003 – _The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King_ (_Lost in Translation, Mystic River_) 2004 – _Million Dollar Baby_ (\*Sideways, \*The Incredibles, _Spider-Man 2_) 2005 – _Crash_ (\*Brokeback Mountain, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich, _Batman Begins_) 2006 – _The Departed_ (_Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine_) 2007 – _No Country For Old Men_ (_There Will Be Blood_) 2008 – _Slumdog Millionare_ (\*Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, _The Dark Knight_) ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/2 "2009-02-24T19:20:06Z")
1. Crash 2. Dances With Wolves 3. Gladiator I strongly disliked _Crash_: there are plenty of Best Picture winners to which I’m more or less indifferent, but \*Crash \*is the only one I’ve seen that I would describe as a bad movie. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/3 "2009-02-24T19:31:33Z")
1. 2004 – Million Dollar Baby 2. 2005 – Crash 3. 1998 – Shakespeare in Love ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/4 "2009-02-24T19:34:05Z")
1. Dances with Wolves 2. Gladiator 3. A Beautiful Mind Looking at my choices, as well as some of the others I seriously considered, is that they all seem so _drecky_ compared to the competition. There’s not really much to say about _Dances with Wolves_ as compared to _Goodfellas_, is there? _Goodfellas_ is a better film in just about every sense. If the category was "Best Movie that Had a Herd of Buffalo In It, I would say the two movies are tied, even though there wasn’t a herd of buffalo in _Goodfellas_. I do agree that _Gladiator_ had a compelling story (I think, I don’t really remember it that well, which also says something to me), but it wasn’t better storytelling than either _Traffic_ or _Crouching Tiger_. And _A Beautiful Mind_ seems so forgettable to me, only eight years out. Personally, _Gosford Park_ would have gotten my vote but both it and _Fellowship_ strike me as much sturdier choices. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/5 "2009-02-24T19:42:31Z")
1. Shakespeare in Love 2. A Beautiful Mind 3. Forrest Gump ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/6 "2009-02-24T19:43:04Z")
1. Crash 2. Dances With Wolves 3. Forrest Gump ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/7 "2009-02-24T19:49:27Z")
1. Crash 2. Bravehart 3. The English Patient I hated Crash. The other choices are because I thought other nominated movies were “better”. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/8 "2009-02-24T19:50:35Z")
1. Million Dollar Baby 2. Braveheart 3. Titanic I don’t like Amadeus much either but I haven’t seen any of the other films nominated that year. Dances with Wolves is also a contender but I don’t really remember much about it. I rather like Titanic actually but it’s not as remotely as good as LA Confidential. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/9 "2009-02-24T19:52:19Z")
I would say that not only did any other the other candidates deserve to beat _Braveheart_, any Jenna Jameson movie that was released that year deserved to. I thought it was about as ridiculous as anything I’ve ever seen, but maybe I’ve got unrealistic expectations about movies that purport to be based on history. ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/10 "2009-02-24T19:52:27Z")
1. **Crash.** This movie seemed like a big After School Special on racism. I have no strong feelings about its competitors that year, but Crash seems lightweight. 2. **Dances with Wolves.** Unlike Crash, this isn’t a case of a bad movie winning, but a case of a classic getting snubbed. GoodFellas is still a frequently-watched movie, and will probably still be one 20 years from now. Dances with Wolves, not so much. 3. **Forrest Gump.** Same deal – a good movie, but it’s no Pulp Fiction, which influenced other films for years (and maybe still does). Edited to add: I’ve always thought it would be interesting if the Academy revisited the best-picture contest 10 years later, and voted on which movie now seems the best, in hindsight. I think there would be a lot of changed votes. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/11 "2009-02-24T19:53:02Z")
There are movies that I wouldn’t have voted for, but that are still OK, if not necessarily the best from that year. And then there are those that I can’t even call Good. At all. _ **Braveheart** _ and _ **Gladiator** _ (two sub-par _Spartacus_ remakes) top that list, followed closely by the unbearable _ **A Beautiful Mind** _ and _ **Forrest Gump** _. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/12 "2009-02-24T19:53:20Z")
Could you go back one more year? _Terms of Endearment_ beating _The Right Stuff_ is a travesty. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/13 "2009-02-24T19:55:23Z")
1. Crash - trite and unsubtle, an especially poor movie when judged against its competition. 2. Gladiator - personal bias, but CTHD succeeded better on all levels that one would judge a best picture by. 3. Chicago - a weak film with no standout acting that won only out of industry nostalgia for the old musical days. 4. Forrest Gump - all of its competitors were substantially better. I can only think that it was because of Tom Hank’s academy darling status at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/14 "2009-02-24T19:58:34Z")
1. Forrest Gump - Cute movie, but not an Oscar winner. 2. Dances With Wolves - Enough has been said about this to fill a library. 3. Out of Africa - The epitome of a boring film being lauded simply for having a normally good cast/crew. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/15 "2009-02-24T20:06:52Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > I’ve always thought it would be interesting if the Academy revisited the best-picture contest 10 years later, and voted on which movie now seems the best, in hindsight. I think there would be a lot of changed votes. If only the Academy could think about what they’re putting in the history books _before_ they voted. I don’t think you had to be Nostradamus to predict that \*Brokeback Mountain \*was going to have a much more lasting impact than _Crash._ ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/16 "2009-02-24T20:08:55Z")
The worst Best Picture selection I can recall was in 1968: _The Lion in Winter_ was beat by freakin’ _Oliver!_. To say nothing of _2001: A Space Odyssey_, which wasn’t even nominated… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/17 "2009-02-24T20:11:45Z")
1. \*\*Gladiator. \*\* It was a weak year, but still a long 50s costume drama. Just because Russell Crowe is better that Steve Reeves, it doesn’t make a good picture. 2. \*\*A Beautiful Mind. \*\* So-so biopic. 3. **Forrest Gump**. Not all that bad, but there were better movies that year. As for best, that’s easy. 1. **Shakespeare in Love**. One of the Academy’s all-time best choices. One of the best written screenplays _ever_. 2. **Crash**. Brilliant melding of stories and characters around the theme, and especially good because of the way it portrayed all facets of the racial issue in all their complexity. 3. **Chicago**. Great reinvention of the musical genre. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/18 "2009-02-24T20:15:55Z")
1. Titanic 2. Forrest Gump 3. Gladiator ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/19 "2009-02-24T20:17:47Z")
1. Gladiator 2. Rain Man 3. Crash ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/20 "2009-02-24T20:29:39Z")
1. _Forrest Gump_ being picked over _The Shawshank Redemption_-single biggest travesty IMO. 2. _Titanic_ being picked over _L.A. Confidential_ 3. _Gladiator_ over _Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248.md?page=2)