# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/41 "2009-02-24T22:23:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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_. I’m glad to see someone else support Shakespeare in Love. I simply can’t fathom the dislike for it, unless it’s rooted in the Affleck/Paltrow casting (Affleck, I’ll admit was miscast, but I liked Paltrow). Wonderful movie, IMO, and one of the very few I’ve pegged as an Oscar Best Picture winner immediately upon seeing it in the theater. As for my three worst choices: 1. **American Beauty**. I actually hated this movie. Boring, pretentious tripe. None of the other choices were all that great, either, so I suppose I’d have chosen The Sixth Sense as the lesser of the remaining evils. 2. **Rain Man**. I did not care for this movie at all (though I don’t hate it). Tom Cruise’s performance grates on me and I wasn’t all that impressed by Hoffman, either. Mississippi Burning was a far better film. 3. **Forrest Gump**. Not a bad movie, but I would’ve gone with Pulp Fiction, personally. My (dis)honorable mention goes to **No Country For Old Men**. I liked it okay, but thought **Michael Clayton** was more deserving that year. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/42 "2009-02-24T22:29:01Z")
I missed **RealityChuck** ’s post the first time through: I agree that Shakespeare in Love deserved the Oscar in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/43 "2009-02-24T22:45:59Z")
Count me as another who thought that Shakespeare In Love was a worthy winner. Saving Private Ryan was a good movie, but I dislike the tendency to give the award to the noble epic (see Gandhi, The Last Emperor, Braveheart, etc.). I appreciate that they rewarded the romantic comedy. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/44 "2009-02-24T23:03:26Z")
1. The English Patient 2. The English Patient 3. The English Patient If I need to add two others, they would be Crash and Dances With Wolves. Both fine enough movies, but not deserving the award against their competition. ---
**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, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/45 "2009-02-24T23:03:34Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Are we pretty much all agreed that _Crash_ sucked? It’s like it tries to be complex, but fails because it’s the least subtle movie ever. It’s idea of well-rounded characters is to have \*every \*character show \*exactly \*two sides. > [@Marley23](#): > > I missed **RealityChuck** ’s post the first time through: I agree that Shakespeare in Love deserved the Oscar in 1998. I get the impression that one’s opinion of the movie is highly dependent on how familiar one is with Shakespeare’s plays. It’s a good movie pretty much regardless, but for people like myself who just know High School Shakespeare, that’s pretty much all it is. So for me, _Saving Private Ryan_ was a much better choice. I agree with **Dewey Finn** , however, that the Academy should show more appreciation for lighter fare. Comedic acting, in particular, is criminally underrated; \*everyone \*says that comedy is harder to do than drama, which seems to be borne out by all the comedians who can successfully cross over to being serious actors, and all the serious dramatists who _can’t_ do comedy well. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/46 "2009-02-24T23:12:05Z")
1. _The English Patient_ - over _Fargo_??? 2)\* Braveheart\* - _Apollo 13_ was better, _Toy Story_ was much more creative and influential. _Dead Man Walking_ wasn’t even nominated?? 1. _Crash_ - _Brokeback_ was better 2. _Dances with Wolves_ - Not terrible, just that _Goodfellas_ is a all-timer. 3. _Gladiator_ - OK, but didn’t seem like an Oscar winner. Kind of a “Well, someone’s got to win this year” award. Special Mention - _Forrest Gump_ - A popular pastime to rip on this one. A better movie than it gets credit for, it’s just that \*Shawshank \*and _Pulp Fiction_ were better. And _Hoop Dreams_ was better than all 3 (Man what a year for movies). ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/47 "2009-02-24T23:13:34Z")
1 American Beauty 2 Titanic 3 Driving Miss Daisy ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/48 "2009-02-24T23:15:16Z")
1. 1996 – _The English Patient_ 2. 1998 – _Shakespeare in Love_ 3. 1999 – _American Beauty_ ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/49 "2009-02-24T23:20:56Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > 1. The English Patient > 2. The English Patient > 3. The English Patient > > If I need to add two others, they would be Crash and Dances With Wolves. Both fine enough movies, but not deserving the award against their competition. This movie is what I call " Ralph Lauren Safari Collection". The movie was horrible. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/50 "2009-02-24T23:23:50Z")
For way too many of years under discussion I’ve seen NONE of the nominated movies, so my domain is somewhat restricted here. Nevertheless, I’ll go ahead and say with a fair amount of certainty that my answer would be the same anyway that 1994 was the biggest travesty. I liked _The Shawshank Redemption_ and _Pulp Fiction_ way, way better than _Forrest Gump_. In the end I supposed I’d go with _Pulp Fiction_ over _Shawshank_, but I actually didn’t particularly enjoy _Forrest Gump_. The next year (1995) saw me similarly disappointed. I have to admit though that I have not ever seen _Braveheart_, so I can’t say for sure it was “undeserving”, but I was pretty blown away by _Toy Story_, _Se7en_ and _Apollo 13_, while _Braveheart_ seems to have gotten the nod primarily due to its being “epic”. In 1998 I felt like it was the opposite reaction: while I definitely enjoyed _Shakespeare in Love_, it’s not even close in the lasting emotional impact it made on me compared to _Saving Private Ryan_. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/51 "2009-02-24T23:29:34Z")
I must disagree about _The English Patient_! When I saw it I was deeply moved. I don’t know if it’d stand a re-viewing, but I did not see the ending coming… And the list for 2001 nominations in the OP: > [@](#): > > 2001 – A Beautiful Mind (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gosford Park) Didn’t include what I felt was one of the best pictures of the year, and one of my all time favorites: _ **Moulin Rouge!** _. I know this is a “love it or hate it” movie, but it WAS nominated in 2001, and I would easily pick it over Fellowship or Gosford Park. (I did very much like _A Beautiful Mind_ though, and will not contest its winning over _Moulin Rouge!_) ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/52 "2009-02-24T23:32:05Z")
1. Silence of the Lambs 2. American Beauty 3. The English Patient And although it wasn’t asked, the three I think were most deserving were 1. Gladiator 2. Chicago 3. The Last Emperor ---
**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:** [February 25, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/53 "2009-02-25T00:12:30Z")
1. Gladiator 2. Dances with Wolves 3. Slumdog ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/54 "2009-02-25T00:19:13Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > 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 love you and I want you to have my babies. That made my day. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/55 "2009-02-25T00:35:20Z")
1. American Beauty Why so few nominations for American Beauty? 122 minutes of stupid and obvious cliches. Oh, the homophobic marine guy is gay himself. Wow. Annoying teenagers who think they’re the shit because they like to look at plastic bags, and obviously the director does too. Give it 10 more years, and I’m sure this cliche-fest terrible movie will be on more of these lists. 2. Crash This: > [@](#): > > It’s like it tries to be complex, but fails because it’s the least subtle movie ever. It’s idea of well-rounded characters is to have every character show exactly two sides. 1. Forrest Gump An irrelevant semi-comedy that beat Shawshank Redemption AND Pulp fiction. There is a goddamn content chart with the boxes. What are you, stupid? ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/56 "2009-02-25T00:41:51Z")
1. The English Patient - If we were to recast votes now can anyone honestly tell me that The English Patient wins over Fargo? Really? 2. Crash - If I were the academy the award would belong to Good Night and Good Luck. 3. Chicago - Not only is it a horrible movie but there were not one, but two great movies to take it’s place. First Alternate: Forrest Gump - I like Forrest Gump, I think it’s a good movie, but I LOVE Quiz Show and Pulp Fiction Second Alternate: Titanic - LA Confidential should have won the award. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/57 "2009-02-25T00:44:00Z")
1. Gladiator 2. Forrest Gump 3. Crash Honorable Mention: 1991 - This was a horrible year, as films from both Oliver Stone and Jonathon Demme were nominated. Someone please make these guys go away, and take back the BP Oscars they both have. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/58 "2009-02-25T00:46:43Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I must disagree about _The English Patient_! When I saw it I was deeply moved. I don’t know if it’d stand a re-viewing, but I did not see the ending coming…\*) Indeed, I feared it may never come at all. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/59 "2009-02-25T00:46:55Z")
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2. The English Patient 3. Gladiator IMHO, “Return of the King” is EASILY the worst movie of modern times to win Best Picture. I really enjoyed the first two and thought “The Fellowship of the Ring” in particular was a genuinely wonderful, great movie. The third installment was just a muddled, badly paced dungheap. I’ll be the only person to pick it I bet, 'cause people love the sword and sorcery and hobbits and Tolkein, but really, if you take that movie by itself it’s just an awful film. It looked like it had been edited by someone trying to make a deadline more than a movie. After that I just picked two bloated, epic movies that didn’t really have very good stories; you could replace them with “Out of Africa” and “Dances with Wolves” and I’d have few complaints. I’ll pipe up and say I do not agree, and have never agreed, with the hatred for “Forrest Gump.” It was a magnificent movie in every respect. It’s a shame that it and Pulp Fiction were nominated in the same year because both movies are better than at least half the movies to win Best Picture in the last 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/60 "2009-02-25T00:58:18Z")
1. Shakespeare in Love 2. The Departed 3. Crash Also, A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator and Chicago. Saving Private Ryan should have won in 1998, Brokeback Mountain in '05, and Little Miss Sunshine in '06. I like Gladiator, but Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should have won that year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248.md?page=4)