Worst movie to win best picture oscar (cinema, comedies, mystery)

[kanhawk]

The English Patient. Mystery to me how that movie was thought to be the best picture that year.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

The English Patient. Mystery to me how that movie was thought to be the best picture that year.

For those who want to scan the list
Academy Award Winners - Best Picture on Lists of Bests

I wonder how many are familiar with the earlier Oscar movies.
I have "Best Years of Our Lives", "Marty", and "Mrs. Miniver" in my movie collection. Those are viewed more often in my house than modern movies.

Movies that are mystifying, IMO, in their achievement of Best Picture:
Titanic? Yeesh, perhaps for cinematography
Braveheart? Mel Gibson is right up there with Kevin Costner in making bloated, self-aggrandizing movies
Shakespeare in Love - Gwyneth Paltrow. Someone pass me the barf bucket.

[Irishtom29]

The Greatest Show on Earth. Well it did have Gloria Grahame (hubba-hubba) but that's about it.

[McGowdog]

Platoon? Are you kidding me? Full Metal Jacket was so much better than that flick, if that's the way you want to go. Full Metal Jacket had real potential, but the second half of the flick didn't quite push it over the top.

I agree with The Sting, Cuckoo's Nest, Silence of the Lambs, Crash, Forrest Gump, ...

American Beauty? An ok flick and all, but weird for sure. Gladiator AND A Beautiful Mind? Why the fascination with Crowe? Were we getting sick of Gibson? Oh right, I guess so. Rain Man? Vanilla Sky and Born on the Fourth of July are the only flicks from Tom Cruise that seem even noteworthy. Oh, it must have been Dustin that carried the latter.

Shakespear in Love and English Patient, never saw it.

[cityconvo]

Gladiator is one that I don't think deserved the Oscar. It was ok, but I never thought it was best picture material. I completely agree with the other poster that Shakespeare in Love was a joke of a best picture.

silverwing: Yes: Best Years of our Lives is one of my favorite movies.

[Steve-o]

Shakespeare In Love -- WTH!?!?!?!?!? I vowed to never again watch the Oscars after that beat out Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture. And know what? Neither me or my friends have watched it since!

[graceC]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

The English Patient. Mystery to me how that movie was thought to be the best picture that year.

i was going to name The English Patient too, but you beat me to it. I remember one episode of Seinfeld where Elaine (a character in Seinfeld) was literally pulling her hair out while she was forced to watch the movie by her boss and in her frustration she yelled at the movie screen "Why don't you stop telling stories and just die already!!"
Exactly how I feel about the movie.

I have never watched another of Minghella's movie ever since and never will.

[Bazzwell]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

The Greatest Show on Earth. Well it did have Gloria Grahame (hubba-hubba) but that's about it.

Gloira Grahame.....what a beauty.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Wow.
I loved The English Patient--I liked it better than the book. Minghella, IMHO, was a masterful directer.
Shakespeare in Love, so literate yet so funny, is one of my most favorite movies, with its countless inside jokes, the play within a play, and the soundtrack. Comedy usually does not get the credit it deserves, and I was actually surprised to see SIP win. Epics are always supposed to win Oscars, not comedies. Everyone loves to hate SIP because of Spielberg's epic Saving Private Ryan (the best thing about that movie, IMHO, was the beginning).

I never saw what the big deal was about Forrest Gump.
But then, it was another epic.
My vote that year would have gone to Pulp Fiction.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by BlueWillowPlate

Shakespeare in Love, so literate yet so funny, is one of my most favorite movies, with its countless inside jokes, the play within a play, and the soundtrack. Comedy usually does not get the credit it deserves, and I was actually surprised to see SIP win. Epics are always supposed to win Oscars, not comedies. Everyone loves to hate SIP because of Spielberg's epic Saving Private Ryan (the best thing about that movie, IMHO, was the beginning).

I never saw what the big deal was about Forrest Gump.
But then, it was another epic.
My vote that year would have gone to Pulp Fiction.

You are right on the ball.