# Worst "Best Picture" Winner of the last 40 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095 "2018-10-17T14:15:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/61 "2018-10-18T02:27:01Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > I don’t get it either. I thought Crash was great. Maybe they think it’s too preachy? I like Crash as well. I voted for Forest Gump. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/62 "2018-10-18T02:36:20Z")
Jack Nicholson’s eyebrow raise when he announced “Crash” as the winner was more entertaining to watch than the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/63 "2018-10-18T03:21:04Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > I still have no idea how **Gladiator** is a Best Picture film. Are you not entertained? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/64 "2018-10-18T03:31:03Z")
I’ll change my vote to Crash, an obvious TV made movie for Family Channel peppered with guns and curses. I originally picked Forrest Gump because this is my least favorite film of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/65 "2018-10-18T03:42:44Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > I don’t get it either. I thought Crash was great. Maybe they think it’s too preachy? CHEESY! Oh, wow. The racist cop is forced to deliver a black baby??!? The thugs who are actually intelligent have the biggest guns?? Felt like a Hallmatk movie told by a nun. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Movies on the list I find to be bad: > > Argo - this was a terrible movie > Shakespeare in Love(my vote). Such a strange mix-up to make this BP. > Crash > Chicago - maybe my backup pick. I hated this musical. (Slow ragtime piano and horns) … “and all that jazz…” (Slow ragtime piano and horns) … “and all that jazz…” (upbeat ragtime piano and horns) … “and all that jazz… And all. That. Jaaaaaaaazzz” Is the name of the song All That Jazz?? That song ruined the Bob Fosse bio for me. When it’s on TV, I skip that song immediately. If anyone asks what overkill means, play that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/66 "2018-10-18T17:28:11Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > … > But the worst of the worst was _The Artist_ There is a reason that we don’t make silent, black and white films anymore. Seriously. I look at it like this; if a friend says let’s watch a movie from my blue ray collection and the choices are the films listed here, who the hell wants to sit down and watch **The Artist**? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/67 "2018-10-18T17:31:08Z")
I know right? It’s almost like different people like different movies! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/68 "2018-10-18T17:45:22Z")
When the question of worst war movies comes up on vet and soldier pages The Hurt Locker is always near the top. Over movies like Iron Eagle and Delta Force. At least those movies were trying to be enjoyable. Hurt Locker is insultingly unreaslistic but shot in a post Private Ryan style meant to mimic reality. That’s my personal choice. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/69 "2018-10-18T18:32:03Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’ll stack rank the ones I have seen, favorite to least favorite (roughly): I like this so I will steal it: Favorites: The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King Very good: Ordinary People Gandhi Amadeus Chicago The King’s Speech Gladiator Pretty good: Shakespeare in Love (Fun, but _best_?) Unforgiven (Dark but good acting) Forrest Gump Rain Man Schindler’s List Decent: The Departed Kramer vs. Kramer Terms of Endearment Platoon a Beautiful Mind American Beauty Birdman Braveheart (Fun, but sooo inaccurate) Titanic The Hurt Locker Driving Miss Daisy Argo Chariots of Fire Million Dollar Baby Out of Africa Pretty bad: if we got more than one vote, these would be them The Last Emperor The English Patient Awful: Dances With Wolves The Silence of the Lambs No Country for Old Men I have not seen: not considered in my voting: The Artist 12 Years a Slave Crash Slumdog Millionaire Spotlight Moonlight The Shape of Water ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/70 "2018-10-18T18:55:41Z")
The “winner” is and always will be _Titanic_. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/71 "2018-10-18T19:04:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I haven’t seen all of Titanic or Forrest Gump, because I got bored with both. If I felt okay voting for something I wandered away from when it was on TV, I would vote for Gump–I found it treacly and manipulative and not nearly as wise as it believed itself to be. > > Of the ones I’ve seen all the way through, American Beauty leaves me feeling the grossest, even though I enjoyed it at the time, so I voted for that. Oh, can I change my vote? I agree totally with your assessment of Gump, but I loathed American Beauty. It didn’t just bore me, it offended me the way few films do. Yes, it made me feel unclean for having sat through it. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/72 "2018-10-18T19:50:43Z")
I voted strictly on which of these films I thought was the worst of the bunch, and Forrest Gump strikes me as the biggest offender–I’m supposed to be inspired and moved by a mentally challenged man dispensing fortune cookie wisdom? It is, perhaps, perfect for America, but a loathsome film. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/73 "2018-10-18T20:02:11Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I know right? It’s almost like different people like different movies! 🙂 Yeah, I noticed the poll isn’t unanimous. Surprising! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/74 "2018-10-18T20:42:30Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > I voted strictly on which of these films I thought was the worst of the bunch, and Forrest Gump strikes me as the biggest offender–I’m supposed to be inspired and moved by a mentally challenged man dispensing fortune cookie wisdom? It is, perhaps, perfect for America, but a loathsome film. This. Ignorance is bliss. That’s all we need to know here in the US. And many people seem to be comfortable with it. Let’s not forget that Cecil’s books of articles were never flying off the shelves on NYT bestseller lists. This is why. 😃 And as an avid Straight Dope Article reader, I knew which chocolates were what just by studying the universal candy code that most companies used in the past. So I was annoyed from the first lines of Forrest’s narration. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/75 "2018-10-18T23:12:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > When the question of worst war movies comes up on vet and soldier pages The Hurt Locker is always near the top. Over movies like Iron Eagle and Delta Force. At least those movies were trying to be enjoyable. Hurt Locker is insultingly unreaslistic but shot in a post Private Ryan style meant to mimic reality. That’s my personal choice. Many people thought “The Hurt Locker” was a documentary, and it did have that feel, but there’s a blooper (or maybe this was on purpose) early on proving that it isn’t. Just a few minutes into the movie, one of the American soldiers says, “Hey, check out that Iraqi guy with the video camera. He’s probably going to put this [defusing a mine] on You Tube.” He couldn’t have, because the movie was set in the fall of 2004 and You Tube was not launched until early 2005. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/76 "2018-10-18T23:49:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Hurt Locker is insultingly unreaslistic but shot in a post-Private Ryan style meant to mimic reality. That’s my personal choice. Mine as well. Not just the worst best picture winner for the OP but a dreadfully bad movie. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/77 "2018-10-19T04:33:34Z")
I have to say I’m disappointed that thirteen people so far, when presented with a poll with the instruction set consisting of: “Worst Best Picture, please only respond if you’ve seen 15 or more.” responded by selecting “I have seen 14 or fewer of these films.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/78 "2018-10-19T04:49:13Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > I have to say I’m disappointed that thirteen people so far, when presented with a poll with the instruction set consisting of: > “Worst Best Picture, please only respond if you’ve seen 15 or more.” > responded by selecting “I have seen 14 or fewer of these films.” Why? That’s how they were supposed to respond. And only two posters stated they saw less than 15. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/79 "2018-10-19T04:53:27Z")
I think …Tim was assuming that people who responded to that also voted in the main poll. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/80 "2018-10-19T05:01:38Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I think …Tim was assuming that people who responded to that also voted in the main poll. I dont think you can vote more than once?😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095.md?page=5)