And I really liked “The Big Lebowski” myself but would not consider it an Oscar contender.
(That was supposed to be “The General” in that last post above; my uncoordinated fingers betrayed me again.)
Exactly why was Tomei’s performance not as worthy? I was certainly very, very impressed by it. She was hilarious, tender, smart and took a supporting character and made it the most interesting character on the screen. It was a tour de force.
The same year, a British actress won the Oscar for Best Actress (Emma Thompson) in a field with three Americans in it. Did the voters suddenly stop being xenophobic when they filled that ballot out? I mean, do you honestly think people voted for Marisa Tomei over Judy Davis because some of them remembered Davis was born in Australia?
Any one of those other distinguished and immensely talented women would have been ten thousand times more deserving of the award. It was Plowright’s first and only nomination; the first of two for Richardson; the second of two for Davis, and the last of six noms (one of which was a win) for Redgrave. At the time of the nomination, each had a truly substantial body of work, Plowright and Redgrave having worked in film since before Tomei was born! (My personal favorite among Richardson’s performances was her turn as Elizabeth I in Blackadder II.)
In 1993 Tomei had done some television and all of five feature films, in three of which she was little more than an extra. Nor can we claim that the Academy was prescient in recognizing a brilliant new talent. Can you name any big hits she’s been in since? She had the lead in Only You with Robert Downey, Jr., a supporting role in What Women Want, and got another Best Supporting nod for a rather forgettable drama, In the Bedroom. I’ll give the Brass Figligee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm to anyone who can name another film Marisa worked in without looking it up.
She’s a pretty girl; not painful to watch; but not even close to being an Oscar-caliber talent.
Those four ladies wuz robbed!
- Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but apparently I’m one of the few people who actually thinks Oscar is a pretty funny film.
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Damn! I knew I was taking a chance with that! Well, I stand by my opinion that people would argue over something like that here. 
Very impressive! (Although I already gave you What Women Want.) So you’re a fan of Ms. Tomei?
No, no. A deal’s a deal. It’s in the mail. If you haven’t received it in, say, five years, send me an e-mail.
Actually, this probably makes more sense than my xenophobia theory.
I yield to no one in my belief that comedy is insufficiently recognized by the Academy, but come on. She did a fine job, but the role was hardly a stretch, and how talented do you have to be to look good next to Ralph Macchio? Anyway, Joe Pesci was far funnier, as was Fred Gwynne, fer chrissakes (in his final performance, too), but neither of them got a nom.
She was just clearly head and shoulders below the rest of the field. I’ve never seen Richardson’s performance in Damage, but I know all of the actresses’ work well enough to know that any of them could act rings around Tomei.
I only mentioned the other women’s histories to give a sense of their level of talent and experience relative to Tomei’s. And as others here have mentioned, the Academy does often recognize people for earlier work, even if that’s not the way it’s supposed to work.
As for predicting the future, I was countering a possible argument that the members of the Academy sometimes see talent that us mere mortals take longer to recognize. Katharine Hepburn, for instance, won her first Oscar for Morning Glory in 1933, her third film role (although she had had some Broadway experience). She was a relative unknown at the time (and frankly didn’t have much competition that year), but she certainly proved herself worthy, earning 11 more nominations and three more Oscars.
I feel confident that Tomei will not follow suit.
Since then, Marisa has received another Academy Award nomination - for that ‘forgettable’ drama, In the Bedroom, which was nominated for a total of 5 awards, including Best Picture, so, yeah, it must have sucked - so it’s not like her career went nowhere from 1993.
That gives her one more than Joan, ties her with Judy and Miranda. Which means, based on total Oscar nominations, Marisa was working well within her weight class.
Jeez, I didn’t realize I had stumbled into a meeting of the Marisa Tomei fan club! (Ironically, the creator of her fan site has lost interest and says he is too bored to maintain it! So there!)
I may be willing to grant that she’s getting better. But IMHO, her best day still doesn’t reach the level of the other four ladies’ worst. And even if she were as good as Meryl-bloody-Streep today, I will never be persuaded that she gave the best supporting performance of 1992.
Also, I will defend the forgettableness of In the Bedroom compared to all the other Best Picture nominees of that year: A Beautiful Mind (the winner), Gosford Park, LOTR 2, and Moulin Rouge!. I challenge anyone to honestly say that of those five, ITB was the most memorable. It struck me as an unremarkable domestic drama that lost its claim to being taken seriously by using Hollywood’s favorite solution for any problem: kill the bad guy. I remember the film better than I remember Tomei’s performance in it, but that’s not saying much.
But look, if you all think Marisa’s the greatest thing going, that’s fine. Remember, I’m the guy who thought Stallone was pretty funny in Oscar. (Actually, I think Peter Riegert and Tim Curry really stole that picture. Harry Shearer, too.) De gustibus and all that.
Don Cheadle got screwed two years ago: he should have won Best Actor for Hotel Rwanda. He was incredible and the movie was incredible. Jamie Foxx did a really good Ray Charles impersonation, so he got all the buzz, but it’s just not the same thing - and I say that as someone who liked Ray. I also thought Rwanda deserved a crack at Best Picture.
commasense:
My Cousin Vinny was a great film. And, surprisingly, one of the few movies out there to really get the legal aspects correct.
Well, I’ll stop trying then, no problem. I have other nits to pick with you, anyway:
That’s probably the only year in history I ever saw all of the best picture nominees in the theatre. I would say, of them, In the Bedroom was probably the fourth or fifth most forgettable movie. Gosford Park seems to have largely sailed right out of my head in the interim, as well.
But ‘fourth or fifth most forgettable movie of the year’ is not a bad position to be in. I mean, compared to all the other movies that, say, weren’t nominated for a Best Picture Oscar?
I don’t really. I think she was really terrific in what should have been a fairly small role in a great comedy. She was once again terrific in a larger role in pretty serious drama. That shows remarkable range. Those might, however, have been the only two Marisa Tomei movies I’ve ever seen.
All I can say is that it’s a good thing that you didn’t make it to the DC Dopefest at the Brickskeller a couple months ago, because if the subject of Vinny had come up, we might have come to blows!
Since so many people seem to love that movie, and her performance, I’ll make a point of watching it again if I see it listed in the program guide. I won’t go out and spend money to rent it, or anything, but if it’s on any of the channels I get, I’ll take a look.
Why do you think I didn’t show up? 
In the Bedroom is a completely brilliant little human drama about heartbreak, and the way men and women deal differently with loss, and was a disturbing little moral drama. To peg it as a simple revenge thriller is to entirely miss the point of the film.
I don’t think it was the best of those five Best Picture nominees, but that was an especially good year. I do think Tom Wilkinson deserved the Best Actor trophy, but he was passed over for a make-up award to Denzel Washington (himself passed over for his role in Malcolm X (one of the best performances in the history of cinema) by a scenery chewing Al Pacino). I remember being a bit surprised that they nominated Tomei again, but it certainly wasn’ t undeserved. Let go of your biases.
(P.S. I also think Oscar is a brilliant farce, and own it on DVD.)
The 1974 Oscars featured a Battle of the Titans, arguably the most talent-laden field ever for Best Actor:
- Albert Finney in “Murder on the Orient Express”
- Dustin Hoffman in “Lenny”
- Jack Nicholson in “Chinatown”
- Al Pacino in “The Godfather, Part II”
- ??? in ???
Yes, mystery man #5 was the winner:
ART CARNEY in “Harry and Tonto”
Bizarre!