10 Worst Oscar-Successful Films of All Time, Ranked

Since 1929, the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have been rewarding what they contemplate one of the best cinematic choices of a given 12 months with what are actually generally known as the Oscars. These have change into essentially the most prestigious and coveted awards not simply in Hollywood, however in all the movie business. Nevertheless, that does not imply that each Oscar-winning movie is nice. In reality, some aren’t even good.

Regardless that, most of the time, movies which might be rewarded with an Academy Award are serviceable on the very least, there are quite a lot of Oscar winners that vary from lackluster to utterly abysmal. From fashionable failed blockbusters to among the pretentious slop that the Academy cherished to reward again within the ’30s, once they had been nonetheless discovering their footing, these are the worst of the worst in terms of Oscar winners.

10

‘The Iron Woman’ (2011)

Gained: Finest Main Actress (Meryl Streep) and Finest Make-up

Margaret Thatcher is, to say the least, some of the divisive — if not downright despised — public figures in British historical past, so it most likely wasn’t one of the best thought to make a movie that celebrated her as a flawed hero. Nonetheless, that is exactly what The Iron Lady went forward and did. It is a biopic about an aged Thatcher speaking to the imagined presence of her recently-deceased husband, grappling along with his dying whereas scenes from her previous life intervene.

The film ended up successful two Academy Awards. One for its make-up work (a nicely deserved victory, frankly), and the opposite for Meryl Streep‘s efficiency as Thatcher (a much less deserving win). What, from the premise alone, might have ended up being some of the distinctive biopics of the 2010s as an alternative ended up doing the blandest, least politically essential job it probably might have. Its Oscar wins weren’t travesties, all issues thought-about, however additionally they do not make it any higher a movie.

9

‘The Nutty Professor’ (1996)

Gained: Finest Make-up

Eddie Murphy was one of many greatest comedic stars of ’80s cinema, which made it even sadder when the standard of his work began to fall off throughout the mid-’90s. By the point The Nutty Professor got here round, it was clear that one thing in regards to the actor’s profession selections had modified. It is about an chubby but good-hearted professor who takes a particular chemical that turns him into the slim however obnoxious Buddy Love.

All in all, Murphy does a fairly strong job with the fabric he is given, attending to play a shocking variety of characters in all kinds of spectacular make-up and prosthetics. It was exactly a Finest Make-up award that the movie ended up getting, and though some may contemplate this considered one of the least-liked Oscar wins purely as a result of it makes it in order that such a bafflingly infantile and foolish film will be known as “Oscar-winning,” the make-up is one thing that positively cannot be criticized.

8

‘Earthquake’ (1974)

Gained: Finest Sound and Particular Achievement Award for Visible Results

Certainly one of the worst disaster movies of the twentieth century, Earthquake is a big ensemble movie that includes actors of the stature of Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy. It is a darkish comedy about numerous interconnected tales of individuals struggling to outlive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles.

The units are nice and the visible results (which earned the film a Particular Achievement Oscar) are even higher, however technical excellence is just about the one factor that Earthquake has going for it. There’s not a lot allure in watching these enormous stars taking part in clichéd characters strolling round destroyed units, servicing a horribly melodramatic narrative. Every little thing is one-note, which instantly renders the stakes pointless.

7

‘Military of the Lifeless’ (2021)

Gained: Oscars Fan Favourite

For the 2022 Oscars, the Academy launched a Fan Favourite class the place followers might vote on social media for his or her favourite movie of the 12 months. The truth that the class by no means got here again (and maybe by no means will) is fairly telling. The winner ended up being Zack Snyder‘s Army of the Dead, a zombie heist movie the place, following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a bunch of mercenaries enterprise into the quarantine zone to drag of the best theft in historical past.

Zack Snyder definitely has worse movies, however that does not in any respect imply that Military of the Lifeless is something lower than mediocre. Terribly overlong, missing in creativity, and an assault on the senses with its CGI-heavy motion, it has loads of enjoyable moments and funky style twists going for it, however the cons considerably outweigh the professionals. There was greater than sufficient backlash towards the Fan Favourite class making Military of the Lifeless an Oscar winner that the Academy canceled the class for 2023.

6

‘In Outdated Arizona’ (1928)

Gained: Finest Main Actor (Warner Baxter)

The second-ever Academy Awards had loads of questionable winners, however few have aged worse than the Western drama In Outdated Arizona. It is a few charming, happy-go-lucky bandit from Arizona taking part in cat-and-mouse with the sheriff that is making an attempt to catch him, all whereas he romances an area magnificence. The film’s sole Oscar win got here for Warner Baxter’s brownface efficiency because the protagonist, the Mexican outlaw Cisco Child.

In response to Letterboxd, that is considered one of the worst movies that have ever won an Academy Award. Except for Baxter’s campy efficiency getting older like milk, In Outdated Arizona presents just about all the issues that plenty of early talkies had: It might’t fairly work out learn how to execute its style with sound, the performing is a cringey relic of the previous, and every little thing in regards to the story feels faux and over-the-top.

Rent on Apple TV

5

‘Cavalcade’ (1933)

Gained: Finest Image, Finest Director (Frank Lloyd), and Finest Artwork Path

Because the Academy was simply determining the Oscars’ guidelines and what sorts of inventive benefit they needed to reward, the ’30s had quite a lot of Oscar winners that had been, to be variety, fairly dangerous. This contains Finest Image recipients like Cavalcade, a drama portraying the triumphs and tragedies of two English households from completely different social courses between 1899 and 1933.

Cavalcade is painfully boring, uncomfortably mawkish, and actually poorly paced and written.

Certainly one of the worst Best Picture winners of all time, Cavalcade is painfully boring, uncomfortably mawkish, and actually poorly paced and written. There’s some benefit in its forged, its visuals (it additionally gained Artwork Path), and even in Frank Lloyd‘s course right here and there (he gained Finest Director), however the themes are so infantilizing and on-the-nose, the drama is so exaggerated, and the characters are so uninteresting that every one of its strengths pale compared to its weaknesses.

Rent on Amazon

4

‘Coquette’ (1929)

Gained: Finest Main Actress (Mary Pickford)

Mary Pickford, some of the legendary actresses of the period of silent cinema, was one of many 36 founding members of AMPAS. Her energy and affect in Hollywood on the time was evidently great. So, is it actually shocking that she gained the 2nd-ever Finest Main Actress Oscar for her first-ever talkie efficiency? It was in Coquette, a romantic drama a few flirtatious Southern belle turning into compromised with considered one of her suitors.

Pickford was able to some really attractive performing, however it’s clear that she wasn’t made for talkies. Her efficiency in Coquette is dodgy, over-the-top, and characterised by terrible line supply. Certainly, Pickford would go on to star in solely 4 talkies extra after this one. The subject at hand is the movie itself, although, and… It is not a lot better. It is method too dialogue-heavy, the tone and story are fully lifeless, and the characters haven’t got notably fascinating arcs. It is the form of movie that you simply watch as soon as after which fully neglect a few weeks later.

Coquette is at present not out there to stream, lease, or buy within the U.S.

3

‘Cimarron’ (1931)

Gained: Finest Image, Finest Adaptation Writing, and Finest Artwork Path

There has solely ever been one Finest Image winner worse than Cimarron. This Thirties catastrophe is a Western a few newspaper editor who settles in an Oklahoma growth city along with his reluctant spouse on the finish of the nineteenth century. Its enormous scope and admirable manufacturing qualities are nonetheless incredible, however every little thing else about it has aged horribly.

It is the worst Best Picture winner of the ’30s, stuffed with blatant misogyny and racial stereotypes that may be onerous to not discover offensive. Even setting apart how poorly this sort of content material has aged, although, it isn’t an excellent movie in any respect. It is boring, lifeless, overlong, and terribly boring, with little or no in the way in which of creativity or originality and a sluggish tempo that makes the entire thing onerous to bear.

Rent on Apple TV

2

‘The Broadway Melody’ (1929)

Gained: Finest Image

Regardless of all of it, there may be one film that also reigns supreme because the worst of the worst in terms of Oscar-winning movies: The second winner of Finest Image ever, The Broadway Melody. It is a romantic musical a few pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit making an attempt to make it huge on Broadway. Nevertheless, issues of the guts get in the way in which and complicate their ambitions.

As a historic doc, The Broadway Melody is fascinating sufficient. It was one of many first musicals ever made — the issue is that you would be able to clearly inform. Certainly one of the worst in the genre from the 20th century, it was made at some extent of talkies’ infancy the place administrators nonetheless did not know learn how to make the style work on the massive display screen. The story is tedious, the performing is poor, and the musical numbers are badly shot, choreographed, and edited. For anybody who’s not a movie historian or a hardcore Oscars completionist, The Broadway Melody is healthier off prevented.

1

‘Suicide Squad’ (2016)

Gained: Finest Make-up & Hairstyling

Whereas it did not win Finest Image (and thank the Heavens for that), David Ayer‘s Suicide Squad is worse than Cimarron and The Broadway Melody mixed. This darkly comedic DCEU catastrophe is a few secret authorities company recruiting among the world’s most harmful incarcerated supervillains to type a defensive process power. Their mission? To save lots of the world from the apocalypse like some form of Suicide Squad.

The story? A large number. The dialogue? Laughable. The characters? A humiliation. The pacing and editing? Horrendous. One of many few redeemable issues about Suicide Squad is the make-up work, and if something from it was going to win an Academy Award, yeah: it would as nicely have been that. Even nonetheless, most individuals would agree that the world can be a happier and extra harmonious place if the label “Oscar-winning” could not be utilized to this horrible superhero movie.

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