The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.
Today’s prompt: What is the least deserving film ever to have won the Best Picture Oscar?
This one I didn’t really have to think about at all. There are a few contenders for this prize as you look throughout Oscar history, from crotchety early sound musical The Broadway Melody to overblown spectacle The Greatest Show on Earth, but the most appalling Best Picture winner to my mind is 2005’s Crash, which is the epitome of the manipulative, unsubtle, and superficial message picture. I don’t like message pictures in any case, but most of them have the decency to have characters to care about or a plotline with some interest on its own or some subtlety or nuance to its point, but not Crash. I hated watching it, and I’ve hated every second I’ve spent thinking or talking about it. Including the thirty seconds it took me to write this.
And no, I’m not looking for a clip, either.
dcfemella
Hahahaha I wanted the clip! =P For me, it was “Life is Beautiful,” which won the Best Foreign Film. That movie was the most annoying film. At the beginning, he seems like a total perv with that little girl. Then he goes to the Nazi camp and does things that ANYONE knows wouldn’t happen. I remember posting a list of why I hated that movie on the IMDB board, and everyone kept saying “It was not a true story.” It’s based off true events, so it should have some truth to it. I really hated that movie. So overrated.
Jandy
If I’d looked for a clip, I might’ve accidentally seen part of the film again. I couldn’t risk that. :)
I don’t hate Life is Beautiful that much, and I know a lot of people who love it, but I have heard both sides of the argument about it. I’m just sort of meh toward it.
Mythical Monkey
Got to go with you on that one — Crash actually drove me out of the room, and I’ll watch anything.
Jandy
It’s one of only a couple of movies I actually hate. So far everyone responding (here and on Facebook) has agreed with me. Kinda funny – I know the film has supporters.