To Err is Oscar: The 10 Least-Deserving Best Picture Academy Award Nominees of the Last 25 Years
By Thomas Leupp
The task of picking the five best movies in any given year is an exceedingly difficult one, and while The Academy generally does a better job of choosing its winners than, say, the Bowl Championship Series or the Electoral College, it's still prone to serving up some bona fide head-scratchers every now and then.
Here's our list of the 10 least-deserving Best Picture Oscar nominees of the last 25 years, along with suggested substitutions.
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Scent of a Woman - 1993
"I'm just getting warmed up!" Au contraire, Al Pacino: you were already well into self-caricature mode by the time this flick came out. Pacino's Best Actor win essentially served as The Academy's mea culpa for sending him home empty-handed on six previous occasions.
Substitute: The Player, Glengarry Glen Ross, Last of the Mohicans, Chaplin |
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Jerry Maguire - 1997
Cameron Crowe's feelgood tale of yuppies in crisis is most notable for providing us with the most annoying catchphrase of the 1990s. It also functions as the setup to a Cuba Gooding Jr. joke. For the punchline, see Daddy Day Camp.
Substitute: Trainspotting, Sling Blade
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Field of Dreams - 1990
The 12-year-old Little Leaguer in me is appalled that I placed Kevin Costner's beloved tearjerker on the list. Then again, the 12-year-old Little Leaguer in me also liked Major League II and Mr. Baseball.
Substitute: Glory
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Erin Brockovich - 2001
Without Julia Roberts in a push-up bra, this female empowerment flick would have been little more than a Lifetime movie -- and not even the best Lifetime movie of 2000. That honor goes to The Truth About Jane, starring Stockard Channing and RuPaul.
Substitute: Memento
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The Godfather: Part III - 1991
The Academy was in a decidedly charitable mood indeed when it nominated the disappointing third chapter of Francis Ford Coppola's mafia saga for a whopping seven awards. Thankfully, they came to their senses by the time Oscar night arrived, sending Coppola home statue-less.
Substitute: Miller's Crossing, Reversal of Fortune
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The Full Monty - 1998
Armed with a catchy soundtrack and the promise of male nudity, this charming English comedy managed to overcome our filmic xenophobia and score at the box office -- without any help at all from Hugh Grant. But tossing The Fully Monty a Best Picture nom was entirely too generous.
Substitute: Boogie Nights
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Fatal Attraction - 1988
While Glenn Close is terrific as Michael Douglas' deranged stalker in this terrifying ode to the perils of one night stands, she hangs around a tad too long, inadvertently turning the movie into a laughable slasher flick -- with her as the female Michael Myers.
Substitute: Full Metal Jacket, The Untouchables
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Ghost - 1991
It's hard to imagine a Patrick Swayze movie garnering a Best Picture nom, but it happened in 1991 when this weepy chick flick made the top five. While we'll never truly know the real cause, some conspiracy theorists attribute The Academy's puzzling lapse to subliminal commands hidden within "Unchained Melody."
Substitute: Miller's Crossing
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The Prince of Tides - 1992
This psychobabble-laden melodrama might have deserved its nomination if it weren't for the ridiculous -- and completely unnecessary -- love affair between therapist Barbra Streisand and depressed patient Nick Nolte, after which a cured Nolte rides happily into the sunset. Apparently, the path to inner healing begins in Streisand's bed.
Substitute: Barton Fink
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Crash - 2006
Paul Haggis is officially credited with penning Crash's script, but I strongly suspect it might have been ghostwritten by Captain Obvious. Achingly heavy-handed and jam-packed with bonk-you-over-the-head ironies, Crash boasts all the subtlety of a head-on collision.
Substitute: Syriana, Cinderella Man, Walk the Line, A History of Violence, Pride & Prejudice
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Disagree? Let me know at tleupp@reelzchannel.com
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