17 films that should never have won Oscars, from ‘The Danish Girl’ to ‘Shakespeare in Love’.

Any belief that the Oscars recognize the right films, directors, and performances has faded over the years.

While every ceremony contains a few right decisions — trophies presented to the right people for the right films — the pervasive sentiment is mostly one of pessimism caused by a barrage of unworthy recipients.

The Oscars are far from what they claim to be – a celebration of the previous year’s cinematic offerings. But that doesn’t stop people from scouring the web the next morning, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the list of winners will impress rather than disappoint.

With the 2023 awards taking place in March, we highlighted 17 films that really shouldn’t have won an Oscar.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A beautiful spirit is one of the mustiest Best Pictures winners of the century so far. While the win was a coup for DreamWorks – the film was the studio’s third consecutive winner – it was far from a deserved recipient, especially considering Ron Howard won Best Director over Robert Altman and David Lynch Gosford Park And Mulholland Driveor.

Chariot of Fire (1981)

While Chariot of Fire is exactly the kind of film the academy usually takes under its wing, the fact that it won was a big surprise considering everyone present was expecting it Red to win the grand prize. The Warren Beatty film would have been a far more worthy winner, too.

KODA (2021)

The first half of KODA probably counts among the worst 45 minutes of a film that has ever received a Best Picture award. It’s full of frustrating characters doing frustrating actions, and it’s – you guessed it – an immensely frustrating watch. The last half improves, but it’s too little too late. KODA well intentioned, but it could have been so much more if it had a little more clout. It was lucky to win.

Cold Mountain (2003)

Cold Mountain was fortunate to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a particularly poor year. Renée Zellweger recovered from the failed win for Chicago last year, earning the understated drama the Oscar-winner title.

Crash (2004)

Oscars viewers have grown accustomed to unexpected victories, but none has been notoriously misjudged than the drama from Paul Haggis crash Beat Ang Lees Brokeback Mountain to the best picture.

Dances With Wolves (1990)

It’s less that Dances With Wolves is a bad movie and more that Kevin Costner’s epic scooped a total of seven Oscars in the same year Goodfellas was nominated. It only won one – Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci.

The Danish Girl (2015)

Alicia Vikander’s appearance in The Danish girl is by no means weak, but there was nothing about Rooney Mara’s poignant twist in Todd Haynes’ film Carol. If Tom Hooper hadn’t won five years earlier The king’s speechit seems unlikely that the drama would have garnered many, if any, nominations.

Go My Way (1944)

The musical I go my way may have been the biggest box office hit of the year, but it certainly wasn’t better than Classic Noir double compensationwho beat it to win the best picture. In fact, it’s far from director Leo McCarey’s greatest film; he won for six years earlier The Terrible Truth and would be nominated for again The bells of St Mary’s two years later.

Grand Hotel (1932)

There’s a reason Grand hotel is the only film to ever win the Best Picture award without receiving a nomination in another category. Certainly a film worth seeing, but nothing more.

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

It’s ironic that a film with the word “Greatest” in its title has gone down in history as one of the worst Oscar winners. A prime example of the Academy deciding spectacle over quality.

Green Book (2018)

For those who don’t care about award shows, Green Book is a crowd pleaser with decent performances from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. For everyone else, it’s the wet Squib that somehow came out of nowhere to snag Best Picture from below Roma‘s nose.

The Imitation Game (2014)

The imitation game won Best Adapted Screenplay, which begs the question: What the heck did this extremely average film do that was nominated in the first place?

The Iron Lady (2011)

Meryl Streep has won enough Oscars for the world to know that she is obviously one of the best actresses who will ever live. your win for The Iron Woman, but was an Oscar too many. Although Viola Davis has since spoken out against the film for which she was nominated earlier this year – The help – it was simply the better performance.

Get Out of Africa (1985)

Sydney Pollack’s drama has decent performances from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford but remains endless in sections. Luckily, John Barry’s score and beautiful scenery keep it from being a complete waste of time, but it’s far from the best film of 1985. From his fellow candidates witness would have been the worthy winner.

The Pianist (2002)

It might finally be accepted that disgraced film director Roman Polanski shouldn’t be receiving awards, but in 2003, that’s still what the Oscars did. He won Best Director for The pianistan award the Franco-Polish filmmaker could have done without.

A Place in the Sun (1951)

A place in the Sun is a fine little film, but fine little films shouldn’t win Oscars — especially when they’re up against more deserving competition. In this case, director George Stevens suggested John Huston (The African Queen), William Wyler (detective story) and Elijah Kazan (End station longing) at the director’s price.

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

You have to hand it over Shakespeare in love; It played the Oscars campaign perfectly, overtaking the wartime favourites The soldier James Ryan And The thin red line to win the biggest prize of the night. That doesn’t mean his success has gone down as anything more than evidence of poor Academy judgment, however.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

It’s often good to put your hands up and admit that a movie isn’t nearly as good as it’s made out to be. Unfortunately, Slumdog Millionaire is one of them. While the win will no doubt put a smile on the face of commuters reading the morning paper the next day, the glamor has lost its sting in recent years. The Rightful Winner – The dark knight — wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture, an omission that led to the Academy increasing the number of Best Picture nominees.