Worst Oscar nominated performance of all time?

Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls.

R1 = racist

The real answer is Ali MacGraw in Love Story

A weird one was Marjorie Rambeau as Joan Crawford's mother in "Torch Song"....okay.

Goop winning for Shakespeare in Love was a travesty, but at least this seems to be the general consensus. I find Jennifer Lawrence highly overrated in everything she does and don’t think she ever deserved a nom, let alone a win.

Kristen Stewart’s histrionics/hammy, scenery chewing performance in Spencer NOT garnering a nom last year was such sweet justice and gave me a little hope for the future. Somewhere, Princess Diana was smiling when they read the nominations.

r2 She was god awful in The Winds of War...pretty but not an actress. I’m Jewish and rooted for the nazis to put her and the audience out of our misery watching her embarrass herself

Rachel McAdams in Spotlight. It's not like she was bad in it; it just wasn't memorable, and definitely not Oscar worthy.

Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential. I'll never understand the nomination, let alone her winning.

[quote]Goop winning for Shakespeare in Love was a travesty, but at least this seems to be the general consensus.

No it isn't. I thought she was terrific. Also terrific in Ridley.

Juilette Lewis is kind of wobbly in Cape Fear. But her voice-over is excellent.

Brando in The Godfather. Not believeable for a single moment.

Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom. I’m a huge fan but this understated performance was not worthy.

Or Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky.

Spacek was fantastic in In the Bedroom and should have won instead of Histrionic Halle.

Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle.

Angelina Jolie for Girl, Interrupted. That was Brittany Murphy's nomination and award.

Frances McDormand in everything after Fargo.

Herbert Marshall in something or other.

Don Ameche in Cocoon. Nomination and win.

Oh GOD YES R14!!!! I'd forgotten that one.

Nicole Kidman's silicone nose movie. As dry, tedious and terrible as 'worthy' Oscar performances get.

Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy.

R14 I love him in it, and to this day, it's one of my favorite movies. But you're right - Ameche didn't deserve the nomination or the win. It was a nod for his entire career.

Jack Gilford should've been nominated instead.

Mary Pickford, Coquette

[quote] Goop winning for Shakespeare in Love was a travesty, but at least this seems to be the general consensus.

Agree, R4. Still shocked she won. We have Harvey Weinstein to thank for that one:corruption.

PS: Have you seen Minnie Driver’s latest? She calls out Harvey and “those” that supported him yet feigned ignorance. (Remember, she was with Damon when Goop was with Affleck around the time of SIL.)

Meryl for The Iron Lady. A stagey turn at best. One of her worst.

Nicole Kidman in "Meet the Ricardos." Awful performance in an awful movie.

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Embarrassing (and half-assed) southern accent and super hammy.

R4, hate to tell you but Kristin Stewart was indeed nominated for Spencer.

Gary Oldman's Churchill. As bad as the above.

People are just mentioning their pet hates (Meryl, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Hudson) or performances from the last 20 years.

Madonna in Evita. It was really just a long, boring music video.

Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld. I just watched it the other night. I was expecting to be impressed. I wasn't.

R27 Madonna never got an Oscar nomination for Evita. She did win the Golden Globe for it, though.

[quote] People are just mentioning … performances from the last 20 years.

OK. I declare Marie Dressler was the worst!

Wallace Beery was grotesque and George Arliss too predictable.

Walter Brennan in anything.

Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. Her emotional range in the scene where her daughter dies runs the gamut from A to B.

Ann Blyth should've won Best Supporting Actress for that one. She knew how to play evil wrapped up behind an innocent facade.

And sexy Jack Carson should've gotten a nomination, too.

Sally Hawkins wasn't nominated for HAPPY-GO-LUCKY.

Michael Caine in Hannah and Her Sisters. He was even worse than he was in Dressed to Kill.

Freaking Whale Rider.

Dan Ackroyd in Driving Miss Daisy

John C. Reilly in CHICAGO for Best Supporting Actor. He sang one song and didn't really do much. He was just a coattail nod, because CHICAGO received 13 nods. (Dennis Quaid in FAR FROM HEAVEN should've gotten that nomination.)

Likewise Mikhail Baryshnikov in THE TURNING POINT. He has very little screen time, and when he does, he's mainly dancing. Very little dialog. But the film was a critical/financial hit and was nominated for 11 Oscars.

Most child performers. Let's face it, few of them ever turn out to be stellar adult performers, do they?

Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur; mediocre, badly dated, and disappointing, considering the nomination and win should've gone to co-star Stephen Boyd as Messala.

[quote] Hugh Griffith in Ben-Hur; mediocre, badly dated, and disappointing

You can only be disappointed if you had foolish expectations.

What do you mean 'dated'? It was 1959.

Worst nomination and worst win -

Roberto Begnini

Helen Hunt's nomination and win for As Good As It Gets. She was much better in Twister.

R42 She was awful in As Good as it Gets. Her New York accent, bad as it was, would come and go throughout the movie.

She sucked in Twister, too.

Kate Winslet!

Out of the ones mentioned here, I didn't like Pacino (Scent of a Woman), Roberto Begnini (Life Is Beautiful), and Helen Hunt (As God As It Gets). They were all very try-hard.

I thought Bette Midler was pretty bad in For the Boys. She also stole Annette Bening's nomination (one of the few best things about Bugsy), who was campaigned in lead at Warren's insistence. Had Bening been campaigned in supporting, she probably would have won the Oscar! At the time, the Academy loved Bugsy, and she was so great, and so featured, it would have been a recipe for an Oscar win.

Kate Winslet's American accent was inconsistent in TITANIC. Drove me nuts! And yet she was Oscar-nominated. 🙄

[quote]Most child performers. Let's face it, few of them ever turn out to be stellar adult performers, do they?

I recently watched "The Piano" for the first time, and Anna Paquin was exceptional in a role that would have been excruciatingly cloying in the hands of any other child actress. I like you am usually skeptical of awarding children's performances, but hers is an Oscar that was fully deserved.

I don't know about worst, but Jonah Hill in "Moneyball" certainly gets a vote for most boring.

Jennifer Lopez for "Hustle" ... oh wait never mind.

Gloria Stuart in Titanic.

You could swear she was reading her lines off of cue cards.

Totally a sentimental, pity nomination

Goop probably didn’t deserve to win but she’s radiant in Shakespeare in Love. J-Law was too young for her American Hustle role but she was still a blast. The vacuum scene was worth a nomination alone.

I like Sam Rockwell but I have no idea why he was nominated for Vice. Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets is another terrible nomination, and she won!

Julia Roberts for August: Osage County. "Eat the fish, bitch!" was unintentional camp.

My pick for all-time worst nomination, though, is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Irritating for Best Picture.

[quote]Rachel McAdams in Spotlight. It's not like she was bad in it; it just wasn't memorable, and definitely not Oscar worthy.

There was a scene where she stood on someone's doorstep to interview them and she was scribbling like mad in a notebook and it was awful. And wasn't there a scene where was was putting things in a dishwasher and lost her temper or broke down or something?

Sean Penn didn't deserve and Oscar nomination for I Am Sam. Bradley Cooper for American Sniper,

I'd love to know what R4 is on or is it just day-drinking(everyday).

*???

[quote]Wallace Beery was grotesque and George Arliss too predictable.

Arliss was also grotesque. He looked like a walking corpse. Freaky as hell!

[quote] Arliss was also grotesque. He looked like a walking corpse.

Look at a recent picture of Jon Stuart Leibowitz—looking very similar to the late George Arliss.

R53 I can't remember. That's how unmemorable her performance was.

Catherine Keener in CAPOTE. More of a cameo, really. Such a waste of a nomination.

Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air.

Again, not a bad performance, but not memorable and not Oscar worthy.

R6 I just watched The Hot Chick over the weekend, and Rachel McAdams was much better in that than she was in Spotlight.

Shit, you’re right R24. I blocked it out! Add her to the list of undeserved nominations, obviously. One of my least favorite performances ever. Still, she was frequently mentioned as the front runner so watching her lose was satisfying. Just imagine if she’d won in that inappropriately casual getup with the shorts. Mary!

Cher in Moonstruck.

Kristen Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes for the one of the worst movies ever made, The English Patient.

Adam Driver somehow got nominated for [italic]BlacKkKlansman[/italic]

Alicia Vikander

Patricia Arquette

The entire cast of [italic]American Hustle[/italic]

The uncooperative formatting on this website I just ...

Rami Malek for his cartoonlike, absurd performance in the heinous Bohemian Rhapsody.

JHud DGs

[quote]Kristen Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes for the one of the worst movies ever made, The English Patient.

Incidentally, I never understood how that movie was nominated and won for Best Costumes. . They were mainly in desert garb and occasionally 1940s getup that wasn't impressive.

Rather, Glenn Close's 101 DALMATIANS and EVITA deserved the nomination more.

R69 I know. I hated everything about that movie. I went to see it with a friend, and we chuckled through most of it. It was so ridiculous.

Whoopi Goldberg for "Ghost".

It should have gone to either Annette Bening for "The Grifters" or Lorraine Bracco for "Goodfellas".

Barbara Bel Geddes for "I Remember Mama." All she did was sit in front of the camera with a smirk and tell a really boring story.

Helen Hayes for Airport. That was a Don Ameche-style nomination and win.

R73 Add Fred Astaire to that list for his role in The Towering Inferno.

Jennifer Lawrence in ‘American Hustle.’ Terrible accent work and horribly miscast.

R75 Another one, like Helen Hunt, who did a terrible accent that came and went throughout the movie.

I like to think Rachel McAdams' "Spotlight" nomination was a career (before and after) achievement thing.

R77 Don't people usually get career achievement nods when they've actually had a career?

It's a bit early to celebrate Rachel's film oeuvre, don't you think?

Probably not the worst, but did Michelle Pfeiffer really deserve one for Love Field? Or Jessica Lange for Blue Sky?

I think Pfeiffer's nod for Love Field was because the Academy wasn't going to nominate her for Batman Returns, even though she got rave reviews for the latter and it was a massive hit.

Love Field came and went and bombed, but it was an Oscar-bait movie about the Civil Rights.

Jane Fonda in Coming Home. She stole that Oscar from Jill Clayburgh.

Mary McDonnell in Passion Fish

R71, no way! Whoopi was awesome, which is why we're all still saying "You in danger, girl!"

I'm relieved I'm not the only person who hated Gary Oldman's feeble-old-fart impersonation of Churchill. It was dreadful. And I have enjoyed his work in other movies. I guess it was a career-achievement Oscar.

I never watched Music Of The Heart ft Gloria Estefan and Angela Bassett but did Meryl really deserve a nomination?

There weren't many films with lead female performances nominated that year, especially compared to supporting female performances, but those who missed out included Reese Witherspoon in Election, Cecelia Roth for All About My Mother, Jessica Lange for Titus, Sigourney Weaver for A Map Of The World (that Oprah speech was wonderful), Julia Roberts for Notting Hill, Glenn Close for Cookie's Fortune, Sarah Polley for Go, Franka Potente for Run Lola Run and Winona Ryder for Girl Interrupted.

Juliette Binoche in The English Patient.

Martin Balsam in [italic]A Thousand Clowns.[/italic] I really like him,

BUT

Michael Dunn should've won for [italic]Ship of Fools.[/italic] Oskar Werner in the same film should've been nominated and come in a close second to Dunn.

What beautiful performances. Pitch-perfect.

R87. Werner was nominated—for Best Actor

[quote] People are just mentioning their pet hates (Meryl, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Hudson) or performances from the last 20 years.

Nope. Hudson conquers every bad performance going back to the silents, she's that horrible.

Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost. Why was that even nominated?

R89, well 99% of the population disagrees with you. The DL Klan Grannies are hysterical.

Some of you need to watch some more movies, you've clearly never seen the performances that Louise Rainer won for, which is why you all just single out actresses you hate from the past 20 years

[quote]Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle.

I thought she was totally brilliant and the best actor in the film. Really.

I remember liking Meryl in Music of the Heart, R85, but it was a bland movie and I don’t know why Wes Craven wanted to do it. She probably wouldn’t have been nominated had she not learned to play the violin.

Jessica Lange is so unbearable in Blue Sky in just the first 5 minutes I had to turn it off. How the fuck did she win that year? I know Lange is beloved on DL but I've always thought she was a shitty actress who keeps getting jobs for some reason.

[quote] Mary McDonnell in Passion Fish

Disagree with this one. My favorite film from John Sayles and Mary M was great in it. Probably her career high and glad she was recognized for it. Alfre Woodard (who wasn’t nominated) was great in it too.

[quote] Jessica Lange is so unbearable in Blue Sky in just the first 5 minutes I had to turn it off. How the fuck did she win that year?

Because thanks to their bullshit rules and their hatred of Jennifer Jason Leigh, they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find eligible nominees, deserving or not.

[quote] 99% of the population disagrees with you. The DL Klan Grannies are hysterical.

Sweetie, Hudson is terrible because she's black. She's terrible because she's one of the worst actresses who ever lived. And no, most people agree. That Oscar is considered one of the biggest "buyer's remorse" wins ever.

R93 and also because she stepped in at the last minute when Madonna (who was originally cast) suddenly quit right before filming. Apparently, she and Craven clashed.

That should read ISN'T terrible because she's black.

R97, no, it isn't. And she won other critics prizes, too.

Gloria Grahame was good in lots of things but I don't get her win for The Bad and the Beautiful. All she did was talk in a bad Southern accent

Norma Shearer for "The Divorcee"!

Most Supporting Actress wins are horrible. Between 1995 and now, maybe three of them were deserving- CZJ, Mo'nique and Lupita.

Norma Shearer for Romeo and Juliet. Shut this thread down now!

You ain’t seen nothing yet.

R91 has it right. It's Luise Rainer for The Good Earth. She's spectacularly awful in it. It's technically inept and off-putting, which seems like it might at least have some camp value, but it doesn't.

R105 so racist

Agreed R90. And why that unbelievably corny film was so popular is also truly confounding.

OP, I pity you. Lewis was fantastic in Cape Fear. Read the reviews from when the film was released. She stole scenes from DeNiro, Lange, and Nolte.

The worst Oscar nominated performances belong to Julia Roberts for Steel Magnolias. Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich and August: Osage County and Sandra Bullock for The Blind (Blond) Side. All HORRENDOUS.

Norma Shearer in "Marie Antionette"!

R108 GHOST became a blockbuster because it was a fantasy/romance/comedy/thriller all rolled into one. It had something for everyone.

"OP, I pity you. Lewis was fantastic in Cape Fear. Read the reviews from when the film was released. She stole scenes from DeNiro, Lange, and Nolte."

She was also living with Brad Pitt then, when he was at his hottest.

Rachel McAdams was nominated for being so fucking decent in her serious roles. So Canadian. Lovely woman.

R97 She is a shit actress but it was her first shot in a film and there was something kind of natural with her soft spokenness, kind of touching with her inexperience.. She only became infinitely worse when she tried again... After she actually WON (for the song) and it got into her dumb head that she was a powerful actress for fucks sake. She Drips ego like the teenage brandy and about as smart. Monumentally bad, nothing has worked since that debut, nothing.

Juliette gives almost a comic performance in Cape Fear. Happens to really, really work though IMO.

Don Ameche Oscar winner for Cocoon! WTF!

Fantasia Barrino should have played Effie, and Bill Condon really fucked up by not casting her in the role.

R1 JH was brilliant in Dreamgirls. And someone's vocal prowess is a big part of a musical. Go watch Cabaret or something.

R112 that's right. Juliette Lewis was with Brad Pitt in 1990-1993, which were his THELMA & LOUISE and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT years.

Cuba G. In Jerry Maguire. And it's not even a bad performance, quite entertaining. But oscar worthy? THAT was the best supporting performance that year? I think not.

R117 I remember it came down to the two of them. Fantasia and Jennifer. Did he ever explain why he chose JHud?

R117, she wasn't fat. Beyonce wanted to play Effie too when she discovered the character would have more of the dramatic stakes. She had to dumb her voice down as Deena Jones. She had to dam near whisper on some tracks.

Fred Astaire The Towering Inferno

[quote]Probably not the worst, but did Michelle Pfeiffer really deserve one for Love Field? Or Jessica Lange for Blue Sky?

Off topic, but Love Field is an excellent example of a film that's been almost totally forgotten.

[quote] JH was brilliant in Dreamgirls. And someone's vocal prowess is a big part of a musical. Go watch Cabaret or something.

You mean an actual brilliantly acted and directed film instead of the POS Dreamgirls? Gladly.

[quote] Off topic, but Love Field is an excellent example of a film that's been almost totally forgotten.

Which Blue Sky would also be if it wasn't for the laughably bad performance and win of Lange.

R125, I never said Dreamgirls was a great film, but JH is excellent in it.

No, no she isn't.

Beyonce had to dumb down her voice, R122? THAT must have taken tremendous effort.

R121 I'm guessing because there's a great deal of acting and dialogue involved Bill Condon chose the better actress.

Nauseatingly sentimental celebration of Boy-Love

A monotonous ranter, utterly incapable of subtlety

^^And a rapist.

Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn for On Golden Pond. And then Jane’s mawkish acceptance speech when she accepted Henry’s Oscar for him. So unbearable.

Marsha Mason should have beaten Katherine Hepburn that year for ONLY WHEN I LAUGH.

An undisciplined scenery-chewer.

Useless except under the control of William Wyler

R118 Are good songs also party of a musical because Dreamgirls doesn't have them and the music is not Motown but Broadway. Cabaret has the better score.

^ part not 'party'

Judi Dench in Belfast. I’m annoyed that Ruth Negga didn’t get in for Passing and I’ve decided it’s Judi’s fault. This was a Chocolat-style nomination for her (which is to say - unnecessary and mawkish).

R139 remember when she had Oscar buzz for her nothing bit part in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN? The BAFTAs nominated her for Best Supporting Actress.

[quote] I’m annoyed that Ruth Negga didn’t get in ... and I’ve decided it’s Judi’s fault

DL Logic

I’m annoyed that Judi Dench didn’t get it and I’ve decided it’s Ruth Negga’s fault.

Helen Lawson in "I Know Why The Caged Meat Sings."

She was much better in "Lady Slings The Booze" and "Cry Me A River, Fattie."

I prefer Helen's performance in the hag horror "Shut Up, Aunt Ida!"

Too bad G was never nominated. I'll sit this one out.

For me, Rami Malek (Freddy) and Renee Zelwegger (Judy) were poor winners, for what used to be considered typical movies if the week for television.

And I’d course Laura Dern for another television performance.

Lora Meredith in [italic]No More Laughter.[/italic]

Yes, I know she was really stretching herself as Rena in this, and I know it was directed by the great Fellucci. But as her daughter said in her tell-all memoir, Meredith was always "acting."

R120, But, his acceptance speech was memorable.

[quote] I think Pfeiffer's nod for Love Field was because the Academy wasn't going to nominate her for Batman Returns, even though she got rave reviews for the latter and it was a massive hit.

It's a shame that the Academy wasn't more adventurous in 1992. I think Sheryl Lee should have been nominated for Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me and I'll get flamed for this but Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct, and Michelle for Batman Returns (however, I really liked her in Love Field. Not a great film, but Pfeiffer was great in it). These are the performances I remember from 1992.

And Alfre Woodard should have been nominated for Passion Fish but I imagine she would have gone Supporting.

R149 Oh, God, not Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. She was painfully awful in that one.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne for The Turning Point

Peggy Wood The Sound of Music

Gloria Stuart Titanic

Kate Fucking Nelligan in "The Prince Of Tides". Even with her as an abused housewife, I couldn't be bothered to care. But is it the ABSOLUTE WORST? It's up there.

I would have nominated Nelligan that year for Frankie & Johnny, in which her role was smaller, but much more genuine and effective. I also would have nominated Pfeiffer for Batman Returns, and I pretend her nomination was for that instead of the execrable Love Field. I would have nominated Sheryl Lee as well, and also Jennifer Jason Leigh for Single White Female. Sue Sarandon could go fucking hang.

Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. She was nominated for having a wide set of teeth.

Why does the Academy hate Jennifer Jason Leigh? I know she was nominated for The Hateful Eight, but she should have at least three or four nominations by now.

The Academy nominating Mare Winningham and not nominating Leigh was an obvious slight, to say "We don't like you, Jennifer!" Is it because she liked to show her snatch on-screen? Because she often plays peculiar, strange women? Is the Academy threatened by Jennifer Jason Leigh?

There are so many performances JJL should have been nominated for, starting with Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That was about as real a portrayal of a teenage girl as has ever been put on film. And in a sex comedy, no less. But JJL should have many other nominations- Last Exit to Brooklyn, Single White Female, Margot at the Wedding, (arguably) The Hudsucker Proxy... and hell, she should have won for Mrs. Parker & The Vicious Circle and instead they had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and give it to Jessie Lange for one of the worst performances ever committed to celluloid. They hate JJL so much, they even nominated Sarandon for The Client and Jodie Foster for Nell over her.

R147 Miss Lora was a bitch. She didn't think her maid had any friends.

The young woman in Come Back, Little Sheba. I can’t even be bothered to look it up.

[quote]They hate JJL so much

I wonder if it has anything to do with her suing Warner Brothers, Steven Speilberg and John Landis after their negligence led to her father's death while shooting the Twilight Zone movie. Hollywood is a twisted place.

I thought of that r161. Could be true. JJL has always been an outsider in Hollywood. She plays quirky, off-beat and sometimes unpleasant characters. It's kind of strange when she does something very mainstream as she did with Backdraft.

And when she does do mainstream stuff like Backdraft, she always does a terrible job and you can see how bored she is. Not that the character has to be quirky (though she certainly specialized in that during a large swath of her career), but if there's nothing for her to sink her teeth into, then she does a terrible job. She certainly can play a "normal" character. Look at the mom on Atypical. It's one of her best performances ever. But that character has so many layers, and JJL figured out every one of them and made them breathe.

Jennifer Jason Leigh only has one Oscar nod for the same reason Tilda Swinton only has one nod: the Academy just doesn't like weird women.

And Tilda's Oscar is for one of the few performances that didn't deserve a nomination. Swinton should have won for We Need to Talk About Kevin and didn't even get a nomination.

JJL will get an Oscar when she learns how to move her upper lip.

[quote] "also would have nominated Pfeiffer for Batman Returns"

Oh, I agree one million percent, 155. And I wish "Frankie & Johnny" was done with F Murray Abraham & Kathy Bates, as originally intended on Broadway. But it wasn't the first time Bates loast a role she'd originated on Broadway when the play was transferred to film.

R160, Terry Moore, still alive at 93.

I despise Goop, so I can't believe I'm going to say this but she's a good actress. Much more range than that one-note Kristen Stewart, for example (who absolutely belongs in the worst nominee list). But SIL was definitely not an Oscar-worthy performance, not even nom. It's a fun light role that was not remotely demanding. There's nothing about it that any competent actress could have done just as well. Goop could have had legit nominations for Hard Eight, The Royal Tenenbaums, or even Emma. That year Cate Blanchett should have taken it for Elizabeth, and not been nominated for the sequel.

Other bad nominees I haven't spotted in this thread (sorry if I missed):

Rooney Mara (watch Noomi Rapace in the Swedish movies and that nom becomes an even bigger travesty)

Jessica Lange for Music Box (she's not even that bad, it's just pure schlock)

I love Kathy H but her nom and won for On Golden Pond was just Hollywood wanting to give her a proper send off despite a role she could pull off in her sleep (Meryl should have won that year and yes that means Meryl should have been a back-to-back winner)

Russel Crowe for Gladiator (maybe a nom but definitely not the win, he deserved the nom he didn't get for LA Confidential though)

Tom Cruise for Jerry McGuire (he also missed a couple noms he should have gotten, but this movie was not the way to make up for it)

Ryan O'Neal for Love Story (everyone picks on Ali but he was just as bad)

Robin Williams for Dead Poets Society (love him, but no)

J.Hud was sensational in Dreamgirls. I don't care what you bitches think. She didn't just win the Oscar she won the lion's share of the reviews and many other awards for her spectacular performance. No one could have played it better.

^ There's nothing about it that any competent actress could NOT have done just as well.

R171, you must be racist. No one else could sing those songs with such deep felt emotion as Jennifer Hudson. There's more to acting than delivering dialogue in a competent manner. Hudson lived that character. She was superb.

Excuse me, R170!

Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias. Her wig was embarrasing but it was superior to her terrible Southern accent.

I don't get this bizarre fixation with trashing JHud (well, I suspect I do get it actually). She was fantastic in Dreamgirls--she nailed that self-destructive self-righteousness that can overwhelm a person who has been repeatedly wronged and just wants someone to acknowledge it. Eddie Murphy also deserved that nom and he should have won over Alan Arkin for that Little Miss Sunshine crap (although Arkin should have gotten a nom for Slums of Beverly Hills--it chaps my ass that movie didn't get more accolades).

Lewis was great in Cape Fear. A very accurate portrayal of confused youth, so unlike all the wise cracking, mini adults usually shown in movies. She was a bit dim, spoiled, resentful, and lost. Great performance.

Juliette Lewis belongs in the one-note category with KStew and Winona Ryder (and they all play almost every character like an itchy/slouchy/awkward/angsty teenager), but she was good in Cape Fear.

Ryder was good in The Age of Innocence, but it's one of those performances you don't appreciate until a second viewing. She seems so wooden and bland, until you discover it was a mask all along.

Tatum O'Neal's Oscar-winning performance was pulled out of her piece by piece by Bogdanovich: He'd feed her lines one at a time. She didn't really deserve that Oscar.

Linda Blair should’ve won over Tatum.

I've never liked Winona in Age of Innocence because she looks so different from the character in the book, who was tall, blonde, and glacial--an Uma Thurman type. May is supposed to look like a statue of public virtue, as the book comments. Uma, whose grandmother actually did pose for a famous statue, would have been perfect.

Sometimes it doesn't matter if an actor doesn't look like the book character, but in the case of May, her physicality is an important symbol of her essential emptiness. Having tiny dark pixie Winona playing her just didn't work.

Winona should have been nominated for Heathers.

Beatrice Straight in Network. She had one big scene, that's all.

Spencer Tracy "Captains Courageous"

Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. It's a performance she could have done in her sleep, and she's barely in it.

Tatum's Oscar should have gone to Madeline Khan.

^ Agree it was easy street for Dench, but damn she's so entertaining in that movie.

I actually think the Academy should have a category for cameos or these small but impactful roles.

And a cast award, as the SAGs have.

The first black actress to win an Oscar should have been Angela Bassett playing Tina Turner. I'm not surprised she resents losing that historic honor and Halle Berry scooping it up a few years later. 1993 was a tough year, though--Holly Hunter for the Piano, Debra Winger for Shadowlands, Emma Thompson for Remains of the Day, and Stockard Channing for Six Degrees.

That was a weird year--Holly Hunter and Emma Thompson were both double-nominated in the actress/supporting actress categories.

Anyone who thinks Jennifer Hudson was good in that role (or in anything) is someone who knows nothing about anything. That's not opinion, it's fact. She is a rotten actress. She has zero talent. And as for her vocal ability, well.... she's loud.

r188, I guess all the members of the Academy and all the critics groups who awarded her don't know anything

R90, the Screenplay Oscar is even more vile and absurd than Whoopi's stand up comic performance winning.

R175 all of the performers in Dreamgirls lacked the originality, charisma, talent, uniqueness and personality of the archetypes they are based on: Little Richard, Florence Ballard, Diana Ross. A boring, overlong, cliched ridden.

^ film

Julia's "Eat the fish" performance takes the cake. I can't remember being so embarrassed.

Viola in Ma Sweaty's Big Fat Bottom

If there were an Oscar for best cameo, Baldwin should have gotten it for Glengarry Glen Ross. A masterful turn.

[quote] [R188], I guess all the members of the Academy and all the critics groups who awarded her don't know anything

You wanna defend Crash? Or Tom Hooper? Or any of a few dozen other cringeworthy award sweepers? How about looking no further than this year with Coda. It happens all the time. Hudson's is at the top of that very long list.

Penelope Milford COMING HOME

I would mention that 1987 film where G. became a real life Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, but in what would soon become tradition, she didn't win.

Some of the early performances were hammy and the actors were awarded for their popularity within the industry. I'd say this has happened more recently with Reese Witherspoon, who wouldn't have won if there was any competition, Julia Roberts, who I think we all agree is a terrible actor, or Sandra Bullock who was believable as a blond (!!).

People are always being awarded for the wrong film, beginning with Bette Davis, which is an unwatachable meller.

Katharine Hepburn for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"

Purely a sentimental choice . . . it should have gone to Faye for "Bonnie and Clyde".

I can't decide which M. performance to pick.

[quote]It's a shame that the Academy wasn't more adventurous in 1992. I think Sheryl Lee should have been nominated for Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me and I'll get flamed for this but Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct, and Michelle for Batman Returns (however, I really liked her in Love Field. Not a great film, but Pfeiffer was great in it). These are the performances I remember from 1992.

Also, Rebecca De Mornay in THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE. I rewatched it during the pandemic after so many years and expected a '90s cheesefest but was surprised to discover that the film still held up. The writing, the score, the cinematography, the acting, particularly by De Mornay. They sure don't make thrillers like they used to.

I remember how elated I was when Anna Paquin beat Winona Ryder for Best Supporting Actress. I thought Ryder's performance was a big nothingburger and was greatly relieved when she didn't win.

[quote] People are just mentioning … performances from the last 20 years.

OK. I declare that Livvy was nondescript in 'To Each His Own', Jenny was laughable in that schlockfest 'Duel in the Sun', Roz and Jane were embarrassing in those schmaltzfests 'The Yearling' and 'Sister Kenny'.

Therefore, Celia!

I was a little surprised when Whoopi won for "Ghost." Her performance was good, but Oscar-caliber? IDK

[QUOTE] Penelope Milford COMING HOME

Penelope played the touchy-feely teacher in HEATHERS!

R152 when I first learned that one of THE SOUND OF MUSIC's many nominations was for Best Supporting Actress, I assumed it was for Eleanor Parker because that was the supporting performance from that film that I liked and was impressed by. 🤷‍♂️

Roberto Benigni in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. What a fucking embarrassment.

R207 What is it you can't face?

[quote]Had Bening been campaigned in supporting, she probably would have won the Oscar! At the time, the Academy loved Bugsy, and she was so great, and so featured, it would have been a recipe for an Oscar win.

R45 not to mention, it would have been her second consecutive Oscar nod. She was nominated the previous year for THE GRIFTERS and lost to Whoopi in GHOST.

I can't believe someone mentioned Rooney Mara in Dragon Tattoo. She was by far the most deserving of the nominees in her category but of course they gave it to fucking Streep for her career-worst performance.

In Cape Fear, Juliette Lewis was trying so hard to play a naive teenage she came across as mentally handicap.

She was only 17/18 at the time.

Yeah but Lewis was better than De Niro, who was totally unhinged and acted like he wandered over from a Friday the 13th sequel. Jessica Lange didn’t register at all. Scorsese’s “updating” of the story was not well thought out. I think Lewis was nominated based on that scene in the school auditorium where she almost kissed De Niro.

R213

Blair's performance was really the result of Mercedes McCambridge who provided the voice of the devil and the make-up and F/X department

R179 ^ see R216

Weird how 90% of the names are female. Glad some people mentioned Benigni. He sucked and he stole Sir Ian's Oscar

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everythinng) OWNS this thread. She owes her nomination to a particularly weak year for Best Actress.

Looking back, it was a smart time for Julianne Moore to do her coronation-style Oscar campaign because there was very little competition.

I would have given it yo Rosamund Pike that year.

Rosamund Pike should have won, Julianne did because it was an overdue coronation, but I don’t mind Felicity Jones getting a nomination, especially in such an incredibly weak year. She did a respectable job with what she was given, and considering the sixth place contender was probably Jennifer Aniston for Cake, I’d rather have the bland Jones be recognized over that actively terrible performance.

Jones was serviceable and competent, but her Oscar-winning costar? Now that was terrible. Redmayne’s performance didn’t evoke My Left Foot so much as it did I am Sam. And his nomination for The Danish Girl was just as bad.

R177 The writing reveals a more complex character. Ryder didn't have to do anything and she didn't. Not even a hint of deeper recesses.

Angela Bassett shouldn't win anything for being an angry witch

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich.

[quote]Rami Malek for his cartoonlike, absurd performance in the heinous Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bale's character impression was closer, but you could argue Freddy was the more difficult to capture. Was let down by the script and choppers as real as Rebel Wilson's. (They should have been more splayed like Freddy's, with CGI used to hide the real ones in the gaps.) I think a lot of industry people were also aware of the nightmare he'd gone through with DL's fave party person.

Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias

R225 it wasn't a great nomination but it wasn't horrible. She looked fantastic in the role. She was very pretty

Cher is Moonstruck.

Julia was wonderful.

Aside from the part. She was beautiful in the role. She looked like a movie star before she became one.

Julia gave a star-making performance. She won our hearts then broke our hearts with Shelby's tragic death.

Julia captured the heart and soul of a woman who was so full of life but was robbed of that life. What a powerful performance.

Jodie Foster is Nell.

I agree. In no way was the Julia Roberts nomination bad. Especially when she became a major star right after.

Steel Magnolias opened in Dec of 1989. Just a few months later in March of 1990 Julia Roberts became the biggest movie star since Marilyn Monroe .

R231 Wins.

Whether you wanna admit it or not Julia Roberts is biggest female movie star since Marilyn Monroe.

[quote]Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everythinng) OWNS this thread. She owes her nomination to a particularly weak year for Best Actress. Looking back, it was a smart time for Julianne Moore to do her coronation-style Oscar campaign because there was very little competition. I would have given it yo Rosamund Pike that year.

Felicity Jones was understated, not unremarkable. It wasn't a great year for leading female roles - Amy Adams missed out for Big Eyes, Jennifer Aniston for Cake, Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year. If only The Normal Heart was made as a movie Julia Roberts could have rolled away with her second Oscar.

For me Marion Cotillard was amazing in 2 Days 1 Night. I'd have voted for her with Rosamund Pike a close second.

There were so many actors who could or should have been nominated that year - Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler, David Oyelowo for Selma, Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ben Schnetzer for Pride and the Boyhood boy.

I would have given it that year to Agata Kulesza for the film Ida. She was incredible. I also would have liked to have seen Taraji Henson nominated for a very small, little seen film called From the Rough, where she played Catana Starks, the first woman to coach a men's golf team on the collegiate level.

Julia doesn’t even come close to Marilyn Monroe.

I don’t remember men falling over for Julia. It was mainly fraus who ate up her shitty romantic comedies.

Billie Eillish for that james bond theme song. The Academy is so biased. Whatever James bond theme is nominated always wins. Beyonce should have won for this amazing song.

A tie for "The Turning Point":

Mikhail Baryshnikov barely had any lines; he was basically playing himself.

Leslie Browne simply wasn't an actress; very wooden. Was also playing herself, but not as convincingly as Baryshnikov.

Both were great dancers, though (okay, Misha was a great dancer, Browne was just okay).

Hon who has been the biggest female star since Monroe?

Madonna?

So many borderline awful performances in Oscar history, you kind of just start expecting a few every year. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man would be my pick. Wanted to slap the ham out of him.

[quote]Mikhail Baryshnikov barely had any lines; he was basically playing himself.

I'm biased because I love Misha, but while we tend to think of acting as reciting lines (or even signing), I think it's fair to say there is tremendous acting in dance sequences.

The narrator at the link does wonderful ballet commentary.

^ "signing" should be "singing"

R239 i understand your statement. But Monroe never had a box office following like Roberts, She's got like 10 one hundred million dollar hits.

But they are largely terrible films.

Angelina playing herself, the only reason she is good on crazy lady roles. No fucking way she was better than Brittany Murphy. She won for being a hot psycho.

Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

She basically rolled into work every morning in her pajamas, sometimes brushing her teeth, and popped those bug eyes of hers when someone told her to act. She even pissed on herself when she had to run up and down the stairs because at age 79, the cow had a weak bladder.

Angelina Jolie is great in Girl, Interrupted but I do agree that Murphy also should have been nominated.

The worst ACTRESSes IN A SUPPORTING ROLE performance in 1947 were ANNE BAXTER in The Razor's Edge, ETHEL BARRYMORE in The Spiral Staircase, LILLIAN GISH in Duel in the Sun and GALE SONDERGAARD in Anna and the King of Siam.

The gold should have gone to FLORA ROBSON in Saratoga Trunk.

[Quote]Linda Blair should’ve won over Tatum.

I should've won! 😈😈

Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter

Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July; Pauline Kael wrote that he resembled an angry tennis pro and now I can only think of John McEnroe.

Jason Robards in Julia, he was barely in it and didn’t have much to do. Come to think of it the whole movie was just moody shots of train stations and Jane Fonda yelling “Julia?!” ad nauseam.

Rachel McAdams in "Spotlight."

Nicolas Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas."

Jaye Davidson for The Crying Game. Brave yes but stilted line delivery and wooden presence does not make for an Oscar worthy performance.

Bette Davis……..all of them because she was always playing the same character. That character was of a no talent, backwoods trash bag who was second to only Lassie as the biggest, furriest bitch in Hollywood.