Most Overrated Best Picture Oscar-Winning Movies Ever
Throughout Oscar history, the prestigious Best Picture award has gone to many celebrated and beloved films. However, there are also some that, whether due to the undeserved hype or the prevalence of simplistic storytelling, have earned the dubious distinction of being considered overrated. These movies ultimately bagged the Academy Award for Best Picture, but for many, their success has been greatly overstated.
Arising from a variety of decades and genres, here is a look at some of the most overrated Best Picture Oscar-winning movies ever.
1: Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump’s Best Picture win in 1994 was an obvious example of Academy Award favouritism at its most cynical. A subpar biopic romantic comedy, the movie relies too heavily on its easy sentimentalism, simple plot, and hokey acting to attract overwhelming public adoration. While Forrest Gump is a harmless enough piece of entertainment, its Best Picture win is widely accepted as completely undeserved.
2: Dances with Wolves (1990)
This 1990s Western epic, about a Union Army deserter who befriends the Lakota people, was heavily praised by critics at the time of its release. Yet the movie’s simplistic, unambiguous story and highly predictable plot detract from the underlying power of its message of cultural respect and understanding. Roger Ebert even accused Dances with Wolves of “pandering to white guilt.”
3: The Artist (2011)
The Artist was one of the best artistic achievements from a technical standpoint, with brilliant cinematography and a unique monochromatic style. But this quiet, low-key story of a silent movie star facing a career decline lacks the emotional power that more ambitious and complex movies have achieved. It’s a nice try — but its Best Picture win feels vaguely unfair.
4: Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
The rags-to-riches tale of a young slum-dweller in India winning a life-altering fortune in a quiz show was one of the most mesmerizing stories in recent movie history. But the film’s intense sappiness and overly simplistic plot detract from its overall effectiveness. Plus, Slumdog Millionaire is far from an original film; it merely follows familiar tropes from other rising-from-poverty-to-success cinematography.
5: American Beauty (1999)
Filled with stylistic choices and a pervasive air of cynicism, American Beauty was hailed as one of the most innovative and substantial films of its time. And while it has become somewhat overrated since then, its message of middle-class malaise and denial of the realities of life still rings true. It is, simply put, a story of shallow dreams — but the Academy nevertheless saw it fit to award it with the Best Picture.
6: The English Patient (1996)
The English Patient is quite an ambitious movie, with impressive direction, gorgeous photography, and a captivating tale of love during World War II. However, its long run-time and exhaustive route towards its eventual resolution lessens its impact. Some viewers have even accused it of overt sentimentality and heavy-handedness.
7: 1984’s Amadeus
Though some would argue that Amadeus is a deserved best picture winner due to its artistic composition, the film is weighed down by a lot of inaccurate and fictional aspects that tarnishes its impact. It’s also misguiding as to what exactly constitutes a great artist, with the often zany antics of the movie’s main character eclipsing his real-life accomplishments.
8: Rain Man (1988)
The portrayal of Dustin Hoffman as an autistic savant in Rain Man was ambitious, to say the least. But the film is one-dimensional, overly sentimental, and reduces its main character to a mere plot device. It also fails to offer any true perspective on the difficulty of emotions and mental illness, resulting in a shallow melodrama that was undeserving of its Best Picture win.
9: On the Waterfront (1954)
It’s difficult to dispute the brilliance of Marlon Brando’s performance in On the Waterfront and its timeless themes of moral consciousness and responsibility. But compared to other Best Picture winners from the era, the film’s plot is too simple to truly stand out. It’s this almost cliched simplicity that, to many, partially explains the film’s undeserved Best Picture win.
10: Chariots of Fire (1981)
The 1981 biopic of two Olympian athletes is not a bad movie, by any means. It’s technically admirable, with strong direction and impressive cinematography. But its unimaginative plot, complete with cliched rises and falls, undermines the film’s overall power and scope.
It can certainly be argued that many of these overrated Best Picture Oscar-winning movies deserve recognition for their technical and artistic achievements, as well as for raising awareness about relevant topics. However, it goes without saying that none of these movies quite deserve the Best Picture Oscar they ultimately won. Whether it’s because of their simplicity, sentimentality, or lack of ambition, these Best Picture Oscar winners are some of the most overrated movies ever.
