Oscars winner who you think didn't deserve their statues

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  • Muttley76Muttley76 Posts: 97,888
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    Crash should never in a million years have won Best Picture.

    Other than that I tend not to get too tied up in knots about this issue, however....

    Tom Hanks - Philadelphia

    Ironically, I think Denzel Washington gave the better performance in this film.

    I actually think Hanks deserved to win for Saving Private Ryan than for either of the films he actually won it for, funny enough.
  • Muttley76Muttley76 Posts: 97,888
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    downtonfan wrote: »
    Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote. I love that guy but Heath Ledger deserved it for Brokeback.

    I think retrospectively it stings a little. I do think Ledgers was the better performance, but of course less showy. However at the time I think people just assumed his time would come....:(


    As I said above, at the time i was fuming about Crash winning best picture over Brokeback, the one and only time I've been genuinely angry about the way an awards ceremony went.
  • RevengaRevenga Posts: 11,321
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    The two that immediately spring to mind are Colin Firth and Gwyneth Paltrow.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,538
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    Muttley76 wrote: »
    I think retrospectively it stings a little. I do think Ledgers was the better performance, but of course less showy. However at the time I think people just assumed his time would come....:(


    As I said above, at the time i was fuming about Crash winning best picture over Brokeback, the one and only time I've been genuinely angry about the way an awards ceremony went.

    Crash was an ok film but Brokeback went into the history books for me. Incredible stuff.
  • ChrissieAOChrissieAO Posts: 5,141
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    35 years ago tho .

    My god...I didn't think it was that long ago....I am definitely getting old...
  • PANNAL1PANNAL1 Posts: 8,905
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    Anthony Hopkins in Silence of The Lambs and i only say this because it wasnt a leading film role rather than being undeserving, but this is a long tradition by oscar where people are placed in the category where they have the best chance of winning, rather than a reflection of their role size. This is an argument that prob deserves a thread of its own!!
  • PANNAL1PANNAL1 Posts: 8,905
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    Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich..i personally found her performance in Closer to be so much better..indeed for me her finest performance to date.
  • felixrexfelixrex Posts: 7,307
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    Natalie Portman and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the two that instantly spring to mind for me.

    Judy Holliday beating Gloria Swanson and Bette Davies is beyond my comprehension.
  • PANNAL1PANNAL1 Posts: 8,905
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    Thought Zeta Jones was good but alongside Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep Kathy Bates and Queen Latifah that year , IMO the leaast deserving. Latifah outshone Zeta Jones in the film personally.
  • LMLM Posts: 63,324
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    I agree to the person a few posts above, I never rated Tom Hanks performance in Philadelphia. I would go as far as saying it's one of the weakest performances I have seen him do. Denzel gave the better performance
  • marjanglesmarjangles Posts: 9,619
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    I agree to the person a few posts above, I never rated Tom Hanks performance in Philadelphia. I would go as far as saying it's one of the weakest performances I have seen him do. Denzel gave the better performance

    I don't necessarily agree about Denzel, his was definitely the more showy role but I've seen him a lot better in a lot of other things.

    I think Hanks's win though is down to context. At the time gay rights was a much discussed issue particularly in the US after Clinton had attempted to overturn the ban on openly gay people serving in the armed forces. Added to that HIV was at that time a major issue with huge amounts of misinformation around. So given that gay rights and HIV were such hot button issues it's not surprising the Academy gave an award to someone in a film dealing with and portraying someone coping with those issues. IMHO they did the same in 2009 when they awarded Penn the Oscar for Milk after the passage of proposition 8 the November before as almost a way of saying that the Academy didn't approve.

    I think as well you have to consider the fact that it was Tom Hanks playing the role. At the time Hanks was a relatively young actor who had made his name in comic roles and rom-coms (with the odd exception). So Philadelphia was a huge departure from the norm for him and potentially risky given the issues dealt with. A role like that could possibly have backfired and made him unhirable for some projects which wasn't true for Denzel who'd tended to be involved in films with more edgy subject matters. Plus I don't think without Philadelphia he would have gone on to do some later stuff like Saving Private Ryan.

    So rightly or wrongly I think in giving Hanks the Oscar the Academy were responding to current events and rewarding him for his perceived bravery in taking in the role.

    And don't forget if Hanks hadn't won we'd never have the wonderful In and Out (well wonderful in my opinion anyway!)
  • So 3008So 3008 Posts: 2,052
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    I agree with Octavia Spencer, I love The Help and Octavia did a fantastic job but there was nothing in that performance that was award winning in my opinion.

    And Kate Winslet for The Reader, it should have gone to Angelina Jolie for The Changeling.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 25,366
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    Oh man, I think of all the films to give Marty an Oscar for, it wasn't The Departed. Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino....hell even The Aviator and Gangs of New York were more deserving!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,538
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    So 3008 wrote: »
    And Kate Winslet for The Reader, it should have gone to Angelina Jolie for The Changeling.

    Angelina was pitiful in that role. She was unintentionally hilarious. And speaking of undeserving Oscars. She SO didn't deserve it for Girl, Interrupted. Brittany Murphy's performance was better, more understated.
  • whatsername235whatsername235 Posts: 360
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    downtonfan wrote: »
    Felicity Huffman definitely should have won for Transamerica. That is a great movie and a really brave and 'ballsy' performance. Pun not intended.

    Ellen should have also won for The Exorcist.

    Totally agree with this, Felicity Huffman gave an outstanding performance in this film. The film itself was on the right side of good but not overwhelmingly great IMO but she really shone in the role.

    Halle Berry winning an Oscar for Monster's Ball was absolutely ridiculous. If all you needed to do is get your baps out and cry a bit rather than actually deliver any lines then yes, she would have more than earned it. Terrible choice, was totally baffled when I saw the film and realised THIS was the reason she had an academy award. She was better in bloody Catwoman.
  • JackassfanJackassfan Posts: 3,430
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    John Wayne- True Grit (winner should have been Dustin Hoffman or Jon Voight for Midnight Cowboy)
  • Walter NeffWalter Neff Posts: 9,146
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    felixrex wrote: »
    Natalie Portman and Catherine Zeta-Jones are the two that instantly spring to mind for me.

    Judy Holliday beating Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis is beyond my comprehension.

    This was what Davis had to say about the result:

    "I wouldn't have minded losing the Oscar to Swanson if she'd won for Sunset Boulevard - coming back after all those years, playing a woman that she must have known well. Aries or not, Swanson was very special.

    But to lose to Judy Holliday, that was a shocker."
  • JohnbeeJohnbee Posts: 4,019
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    It is not at all surprising, reading the very strange opinions shown in this thread, that people disagree about actors. Interesting that most of those who are 'undeserved' according to the OP are women.
    Halle Berry only got an award because she is mixed race? Kate Winslet was only in a supporting role in The Reader?
    Even Marisa Tomei gets moaned at, without any consideration of the fact that she was absolutely brilliant in that part, and funny. OK she had a good part, but she did it beautifully and nobody else was as good that year.
    Humphrey Bogart not deserving an Oscar is just the most plainly daft thing ever said.

    Listen folks. Give your true real opinions instead of trawling the web and giving 'opinions' you have nicked from others.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 292
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    Sandra Bullock absolutely. Terrible terrible terrible actress. I also didn't think much of George Clooney in Syriana.
  • Mystical123Mystical123 Posts: 15,811
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    Johnbee wrote: »
    Kate Winslet was only in a supporting role in The Reader?

    Listen folks. Give your true real opinions instead of trawling the web and giving 'opinions' you have nicked from others.

    Listen, why don't you try respecting that people's opinions are different than yours? And that it's perfectly valid to hold an opinion thats been given somewhere else before :rolleyes:

    And I do think Kate Winslet was more a Supporting Actress in The Reader, as I interpret the film as not being as much about her character as about Michael. The same could be said about many other parts, of course, but for me it wasn't a Lead Actress performance.

    But each to their own, which you need to respect.
  • marjanglesmarjangles Posts: 9,619
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    Listen, why don't you try respecting that people's opinions are different than yours? And that it's perfectly valid to hold an opinion thats been given somewhere else before :rolleyes:

    And I do think Kate Winslet was more a Supporting Actress in The Reader, as I interpret the film as not being as much about her character as about Michael. The same could be said about many other parts, of course, but for me it wasn't a Lead Actress performance.

    But each to their own, which you need to respect.

    You're not the only one who thinks so either. Of the 10 awards she won for that part according to Wiki, 4 of them were for supporting actress including the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award.
  • PANNAL1PANNAL1 Posts: 8,905
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    There are so many performances deservedly nominated but in the wrong category.. i guess people are placed in the category they have the best chance of winning in..

    EG...Anthony Hopkins in Silence Of The Lamb,s while an extremely memorable performance only had 20 minutes of screen time and for me, should have been placed in the supporting actor category
  • Toy_HeroToy_Hero Posts: 11,358
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    I pretty much echo a few others have mentioned

    - Gwyneth Paltrow. Imo, the least deserving in the category. I thought Fernando Montenegro was incredible in Central Station and pretty much the top of the pack in the category. Some of the best acting I've seen in a film.
    - Reese Witherspoon. Again, as said above. Felicity Huffman was fantastic in Transamerica.
    - Jennifer Hudson. Perhaps a little biased because I haven't seen all of Dreamgirls considering it wasn't really my thing:o but Rinko Kikuchi won me over in Babel.

    I can't exactly speak about Octavia Spencer, I was the kind of person that loved Melissa McCarthy haha :p
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,538
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    Johnbee wrote: »
    It is not at all surprising, reading the very strange opinions shown in this thread, that people disagree about actors. Interesting that most of those who are 'undeserved' according to the OP are women.
    Halle Berry only got an award because she is mixed race? Kate Winslet was only in a supporting role in The Reader?
    Even Marisa Tomei gets moaned at, without any consideration of the fact that she was absolutely brilliant in that part, and funny. OK she had a good part, but she did it beautifully and nobody else was as good that year.
    Humphrey Bogart not deserving an Oscar is just the most plainly daft thing ever said.

    Listen folks. Give your true real opinions instead of trawling the web and giving 'opinions' you have nicked from others.

    Why don't you post elsewhere
  • _NiallDEE__NiallDEE_ Posts: 13,584
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    downtonfan wrote: »
    I know this is one of your choices for one ho deserved it but one of mine is

    Julia Roberts for Erin Brokovich. It should have gone to Ellen Burstyn for Requiem

    This x100, Ellen Burstyn's performance in Requiem For A Dream is one of the best I've ever seen, the fact that Julia Roberts won over it is completely ridiculous :mad:
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