# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![edspellman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@edspellman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edspellman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/101 "2018-10-19T23:38:37Z")
Here, I’ll dump on Crash some more. All the other movies had SOMETHING memorable- some iconic scene(s), some great acting, an exciting action or hilarious comic sequence- I remember something from all of them. Except Crash. I vaguely recall Don Cheadle in it and he’s always a great actor, yet the dialogue they gave him to say must have been so bad, I recall none of it. I recall NOTHING of any note from that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/102 "2018-10-19T23:59:34Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > Titanic was bad, but it made sense as BP because as infantile as I found it, it was also a grand spectacle and visually amazing, so fine, I get it. It was also hugely expensive to make - potentially studio-endingly so - but it made gigantic amounts of cash. It’s not hard to see why Hollywood types voted for it. And it’s a damn good film. OK, it’s a big old melodrama with great FX rather than an experimental meditation on the human condition, but there’s nowt wrong with that - it genuinely moved people in very large numbers. As one film critic said “It’s Jim Cameron’s love letter to a big hunk of metal”, but it’s more than that too - there are loads of moments of love and fear and courage and horror and loss. It’s no _A Night To Remember_ though, so it’s only the second best film about the maiden voyage of _RMS Titanic_. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/103 "2018-10-20T02:29:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I am pretty sure the Op didnt word it for pedants. Obviously the “I have seen 14 or fewer of these films.” was the proper option for those people. No one is being pedantic. Someone was using irony to be funny. Obviously, your funny bone didn’t pick up the broadcast. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/104 "2018-10-20T02:32:35Z")
> [@edspellman](#): > > Here, I’ll dump on Crash some more. All the other movies had SOMETHING memorable- some iconic scene(s), some great acting, an exciting action or hilarious comic sequence- I remember something from all of them. > > Except Crash. I vaguely recall Don Cheadle in it and he’s always a great actor, yet the dialogue they gave him to say must have been so bad, I recall none of it. I recall NOTHING of any note from that movie. I haven’t seen _Crash_ in a goodly number of years (close to ten), and I recall almost the whole movie. So clearly it had the ability to make an impact. Whether or not it does is of course where the milage varies. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/105 "2018-10-20T02:42:18Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I can barely remember it because of how boring it was. I should have added it to my list of “bad movies” that won the award. So boring that I quit watching it halfway through on a flight to Europe… at like 10 pm, with all the lights out. It was more rewarding to try and sleep, knowing that I never actually manage to sleep on airliners than to grit out that movie. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/106 "2018-10-20T07:54:04Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > No one is being pedantic. Someone was using irony to be funny. Obviously, your funny bone didn’t pick up the broadcast. :rolleyes: I dont think so, I just think he didn’t understand how the polling worked, due to poor Op instructions. You’re not **Some Call Me… Tim** , so I don’t know how you can say what he was trying for. I think his post was dead serious. Note the lack of a emoticon which would have indicated otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/107 "2018-10-20T08:17:00Z")
It’s a tie between _American Beauty_ and _The English Patient_. Both pretentious bullshit. I gave it to _American Beauty_ but I wanted to pick both. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/108 "2018-10-20T13:20:40Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Has to be Shakespeare in Love. > > I had to sit through that whole thing on an Saturday afternoon, in the theater, just to get laid later. That was better than the movie, but I still left before the sun went down. > > Gwyneth Paltrow. Need I say more? Hey, if sitting through one of her movies would get me laid by Gwyneth Paltrow, I’d do it too! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/109 "2018-10-20T16:35:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I dont think so, I just think he didn’t understand how the polling worked, due to poor Op instructions. You’re not **Some Call Me… Tim** , so I don’t know how you can say what he was trying for. I think his post was dead serious. > > Note the lack of a emoticon which would have indicated otherwise. Amazingly, it’s not usually necessary to use emoticons/emojis to indicate humor. Intelligent people usually pick up on it regardless. Deadpan humor is a staple of English humor, for example. But whatever. ---
**Author:** ![edspellman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@edspellman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edspellman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/110 "2018-10-20T17:45:19Z")
Leaving aside Crash (and some LOVE this movie so it’s very YMMV), I can see reasons for the runners up. Shakespeare in Love(too lightweight), Birdman (too pretentious), Forrest Gump (hamfisted references to every event of 60s,70s,80s)…still these had their moments…YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/111 "2018-10-20T18:57:46Z")
I haven’t seen all of them, but at least 15 and have some sense of what most of the other ones are like. Chicago by a mile. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. But the plot is about as deep as that in Titanic, minus any technical achievement s, minus any notable cinematography, minus any particularly great acting or singing. The best one can say for it is that they didn’t ruin the musical (see: Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, etc.) but I wouldn’t view that as a notable achievement. Sure, most musicals have failed the transition spectacularly, but so did most comic book movies until the directors stopped being determined morons. It’s not actually that hard, just don’t hire actors who can’t sing, don’t change the plot significantly, and don’t change the style of the original significantly. ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/112 "2018-10-21T04:16:35Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > OK, but that is literally against what the OP said. I thought it was the worst best picture – all opinions are, by definition, personal. so why is this literally against what the OP said? I’m not sure you understood. If I’m wrong, explain, because I don’t really get what how I didn’t answer properly. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/113 "2018-10-21T04:50:38Z")
The OP asked that you remove considerations about the quality of BP winners against its competition that year. Saying that you wished Pulp Fiction prevailed against Gump and that affected your vote goes against the conditions outlined in the OP. In other words: Here is a set of 40 films, linked by the fact they won Best Picture over the last 40 years. Which is the worst? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/114 "2018-10-21T05:05:01Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The OP asked that you remove considerations about the quality of BP winners against its competition that year. Saying that you wished Pulp Fiction prevailed against Gump and that affected your vote goes against the conditions outlined in the OP. > > In other words: Here is a set of 40 films, linked by the fact they won Best Picture over the last 40 years. Which is the worst? Right, Not “Was there a best Picture that you thought should have won, instead?” , which is rather different. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/115 "2018-10-21T05:35:54Z")
There are a surprising number I have seen that, if they were the only thing available to watch I wouldn’t bother turning them on: \*The English Patient Crash The Hurt Locker The Artist Spotlight Driving Miss Daisy Argo \* But I guess _Crash_ is not just a poor **Best Picture** choice, it is a really execrable movie anyway. So it gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/116 "2018-10-21T17:17:17Z")
The message of _Crash_ is that _ **Racism Is Bad. See?** _ I hated _Crash_, but I ended up voting for _Slumdog Millionaire_. I first saw it several years after it came out, and remember wondering how it even got nominated. The story gets more preposterous as it goes on, and by the end it was a real eye-roller. I really liked _Birdman_. For one thing, it was funny. I liked the aspect of the main character trying to reinvent himself while being dogged by the only success he’d ever had. I can see why some people think it’s pretentious, but I didn’t have that reaction to it. I do think the Academy loves movies about show business, which probably affected the voting. George Orwell once wrote a review of a historical anthology of English poetry in which he pointed out that the editors’ judgment on what to include got worse as they approached their own era. People’s wisdom about the new and the recent is often poor. We can see this reflected in the choices for best picture. There used to be a problem with the voting system. They would always have five nominees, and each Academy member got one vote. This meant that a movie could win with just over one fifth of the vote. Several years ago they changed the voting for best picture to a ranked choice/instant runoff type system, which reduces the chances of a winner that most people dislike. I’ve suspected for a long time that Academy voters pick the types of movies they want to see made. A movie like _Titanic_ has something in it for everyone in Hollywood: the actors, stunt people, songwriters and singers, special effects people, editors, directors, costume designers. . . In a political sense, it’s a big tent movie. ---
**Author:** ![edspellman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@edspellman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edspellman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/117 "2018-10-21T17:29:59Z")
Interesting the films that have zero votes - all historical dramas (except the one starring Kevin Costner), and 2 tough hardbitten Western set movies. (Spotlight I don’t count, since barely anyone saw that movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/118 "2018-10-22T03:55:17Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’ll stack rank the ones I have seen, favorite to least favorite (roughly): > > **Favorites** : > Dances With Wolves > The Departed > No Country for Old Men > > […] > > **Pretty bad** : if we got more than one vote, these would be them > Million Dollar Baby > Out of Africa > The Last Emperor > Driving Miss Daisy > The English Patient > > **Awful** : > Chariots of Fire — just awful > > […] It would appear that you are /not/ judging based on the quality of the score. For me, the music is perhaps the most important single element of a film. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/119 "2018-10-22T04:26:38Z")
> [@edspellman](#): > > …(Spotlight I don’t count, since barely anyone saw that movie.) It didn’t do _that_ bad: [Spotlight (film) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_(film)#Box_office) ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095/120 "2018-10-22T07:45:15Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The OP asked that you remove considerations about the quality of BP winners against its competition that year. Saying that you wished Pulp Fiction prevailed against Gump and that affected your vote goes against the conditions outlined in the OP. > > In other words: Here is a set of 40 films, linked by the fact they won Best Picture over the last 40 years. Which is the worst? Actually, I said that I thought it was the worst winner. The fact that I thought that Pulp Fiction was so good and ought to have won is what made it personal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-best-picture-winner-of-the-last-40-years/823095.md?page=7)