# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/101 "2009-02-26T00:08:00Z")
1. Chicago 2. Braveheart 3. Titanic ---
**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 26, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/102 "2009-02-26T00:10:10Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > I have a bias against Braveheart and Dances With Wolves, because both were basically first-time efforts of big-name Hollywood stars who produced and directed these films to Best Picture/Best Director > > Nitpick: _Braveheart_ was the second film Gibson directed (_The Man Without a Face_ was the first). Good point, but it still seems like Gibson and Costner lucked out very early, while the other directors I named never got the Best Director award despite decades of work. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/103 "2009-02-26T00:17:54Z")
1. Forrest Gump - disliked the movie personally, and also from a semi-objective sense feel that both Pulp Fiction and Shawshank were better done AND more important/influential 2. Dances With Wolves - not a terrible movie but not on the same level as Goodfellas 3. Million Dollar Baby - thoroughly underwhelming movie in a thoroughly underwhelming year, I actually would have gone with The Incredibles that year, probably my favorite of Pixar’s excellent catalogue Dishonorable mentions to The English Patient and American Beauty, two movies I wasn’t particularly impressed by but couldn’t make the list above because their years were both very weak all around, so it is much more difficult to call them undeserving. I love Shakespeare in Love and wholeheartedly agree with its win. I neither particularly loved nor hated Crash, but I was also generally less enamored of Brokeback than most, and honestly might have gone with Batman Begins that year. Actually, here’s a sentence for you: Batman Begins was a better movie than \; it may not have had Ledger’s excellent performance, but it was the superior movie in most other aspects, especially pacing and plot. You can fill in \ with either Brokeback Mountain or The Dark Knight as you please - that’s why it’s a good sentence! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/104 "2009-02-26T02:34:03Z")
1. American Beauty 2. Crash 3. Titanic I liked The English Patient. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/105 "2009-02-26T02:45:59Z")
I’ve also been keeping a running total. So far, as I counted, and I could be wrong, the top ten vote getters are: Crash Forrest Gump The English Patient Gladiator Titanic Dances with Wolves American Beauty Braveheart Shakespeare in Love A Beautiful Mind The above ten movies have 80% of the votes, with Crash at 74 and A Beautiful Mind at 17. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/106 "2009-02-26T04:10:10Z")
1 - Dances With Wolves 2 - Out of Africa 3 - Chicago _Dances With Wolves_ happened to be when Costner’s popularity was peaking. I gave it the top spot because _Goodfellas_ was such a worthier alternative. _Out of Africa_ and _Chicago_ are two movies that I feel are forgettable. I put _Out of Africa_ ahead because it’s older so I think the judgement on it is solidified. _Chicago_’s reputation might still turn around. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/107 "2009-02-26T04:25:01Z")
1. Forrest Gump 2. Crash 3. Shakespeare in Love 1\> An enjoyable movie- but how in the WORLD did it beat Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption. (I know Shawshank wasn’t commercially successful, but that can’t be said of Pulp Fiction.) 2\> I don’t dislike this movie like a lot of people here, but really this is The Academy awarding itself for saying “something meaningful”. 3\> This has been debated- but I still feel Saving Private Ryan as the superior movie. ---
**Author:** ![equinoxi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@equinoxi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/equinoxi)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2009, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/108 "2009-02-26T11:01:56Z")
These are the films which I think should win and only a few have won. 1984 – The Killing Fields 1985 – After Hours 1986 – Hannah and Her Sisters 1987 – Raising Arizona 1988 – Cinema Paradiso 1989 – When Harry Met Sally… 1990 – Edward Scissorhands 1991 – Raise the Red Lantern 1992 – The Player 1993 – The Piano 1994 – Pulp Fiction 1995 – Twelve Monkeys 1996 – Breaking the Waves 1997 – Deconstructing Harry 1998 – Happiness 1999 – Being John Malkovich 2000 – In the Mood for Love 2001 – Donnie Darko 2002 – Hero 2003 – Kill Bill vol. 1 2004 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2005 – Brokeback Mountain 2006 – V for Vendetta 2007 – No Country For Old Men 2008 – Slumdog Millionare ---
**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 26, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248/109 "2009-02-26T15:56:53Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I liked The English Patient. I did, too. Great performances by Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristin Scott Thomas, among others. And I’ve seen it more than once. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-undeserving-best-picture-winners-of-the-past-25-years/487248.md?page=5)