Top 5 Most Overrated “Best Picture” Winners

Top 5 Most Overrated “Best Picture” Winners

We all know the Oscars are simply a popularity contest and whichever studio has the best marketing campaign is usually going to win regardless of the film’s achievements. So the Movie Monkey has compiled a list of the Top 5 Most Overrated “Best Picture” Winners that after careful scrutiny, should NOT have won the award and whose merits were blown way out of proportion. I also suggest what my choice for Best Picture would have been among the other nominees.

Topping the list at Number 5:

#5 Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

What were they thinking when they awarded the Oscar to this grossly offensive and utterly racist film the Best Picture statue? I have seen this film twice since it’s release and I cringe during every gut wrenching second. This film was truly awful. The amazing Morgan Freeman was cast as the lovable African-American servant with the heart of gold opposite the unbearable Jessica Tandy in what is surely one of the biggest cinematic mistakes ever to gain widespread acclaim.

Movie Monkey Shoot’s 1989 choice: My Left Foot

#4 The King’s Speech (2010)

Now don’t get me wrong, this was a good film. I enjoyed the playful banter and speech lessons between Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth and of course the always amazing Helena Bonham Carter but seriously, Best Picture?!?! In a year that saw such amazing films such as The Fighter, The Social Network, Inception, True Grit, Black Swan and even the surprisingly superior Pixar comedy Toy Story 3 as fellow nominees, why did this film win the Oscar? This film was sluggish, took absolutely no risks and was your typical play it safe film with none of the outstanding qualities of the other nominees. The marketing department at The Weinstein Company is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Movie Monkey Shoot’s 2010 choice: The Fighter

#3 The Last Emperor (1987)

OH MY GOD this has got to be the most mind numbing and boring film in the history of mind numbing films. I have seen this film twice, once in 1990 and again in 2010 to give the film a fair reassessment and both times I have literally had to sit on my hands to prevent myself from poking out my eyes from sheer boredom and frustration. This movie is the king of boring movies and should be avoided unless you are having trouble falling asleep, then this film works beautifully.

Movie Monkey Shoot’s 1987 choice: Fatal Attraction

#2 The English Patient (1996)

Have you ever seen that old episode of Seinfeld coincidentally called “The English Patient”? The episode where Elaine Benes is incessantly bothered to watch this excruciatingly painful film by her air head friends. They insist that this movie was outstanding when she knows that this movie is utter garbage. That pretty much sums up about 95% of the people who were forced to watch this turkey by their friends. This movie is just 155 minutes of pain. The Movie Monkey has recently heard from a few of his army buddies serving in Iraq that when they capture prisoners of war and they want to extract classified information in their “enhanced interrogation” methods, one of the most common and successful methods is to lock them up in an empty room with a copy of The English Patient on constant repeat. By the 3rd time this horrendously boring film is played, the POW’s have gone insane and have reached the breaking point where they will divulge anything for fear of having to watch the ludicrous sex scene again. This movie is an exercise in self-restraint.

Movie Monkey Shoot’s 1996 choice: Fargo

#1 Most OVERRATED Best Picture Winner of the last 30 Years:

BRAVEHEART (1995)

OK I know that most of you might think this is blasphemous (or maybe not) and if Eric Cartman were a real person he would more than likely have my head on a stick for this jab at Mel Gibson’s 1995 epic war film.

When this film first came out in 1995, it was way ahead of its time and had some spectacular action sets. Braveheart solidified Mel Gibson as one of the top action heroes of the 1990’s.

Unfortunately for Mel, more than 15 years and several drunken anti-Semitic remarks later, (not to mention producing that 2004 snuff film The Passion) Mel Gibson has degenerated to one of Hollywood’s most notorious real life villains completely tarnishing his prior reputation as an action film god.

Now I am not saying that Braveheart is a bad film. It is an excellent war film and the motivating speech he gives his men wearing the blue war paint still brings tears to my eyes. But knowing the history behind the man completely ruins the legacy that was once Braveheart.

Nothing short of the touch of god will ever bring him back to his glory days. No Lethal Weapon 5, The Beaver 2 or even a sequel to Mad Max will ever help to reestablish Mel Gibson again.

What a sad state of affairs.

 

Movie Monkey Shoot’s 1995 choice:  Apollo 13

“Houston we have a problem!”