Top 20 Worst Movies To Get Oscar Nominations

A biopic about Marilyn Monroe really should have been a slam dunk. We don’t know what the heck Andrew Dominik[a] was doing. Rather than playing it straight, Dominik made a subversive take on the Monroe mythos, fictionalizing most of her life and filling the movie with graphic content that was made solely to stir up drama. Many called it sexist and exploitative, with Dominik’s Razzie-winning screenplay receiving a healthy dose of fevered criticism. And speaking of Razzies, “Blonde” also walked away with the year’s Worst Picture award. But despite the script’s many flaws, Ana de Armas acted her butt off and earned herself an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Even people who liked the new trilogy, and even people who liked the prequel series, seem to agree that “The Rise of Skywalker” was disappointing. Neither casual “Star Wars” viewers nor diehard fans seemed to like it, with many agreeing that it was a boring Disney film that played it way too safe. It clumsily tried course correcting the divisive elements from “The Last Jedi” and was filled with terrible fan service that literally didn’t make any sense. “Somehow Palpatine returned”, indeed. But it was a technically well-made film and earned three Oscar nominations for its score, sound editing, and visual effects. Those are kind of a given…

Did we really need “102 Dalmatians”? No. No we did not. The story was grossly repetitive and followed the winning formula of the original way too closely. It’s literally the exact same story, only this time Cruella de Vil wants to make an even grander fur coat! Brilliant! Her antics were also exaggerated to the point of being cartoonish, and the movie sacrificed emotional depth for visual spectacle, offering up plenty of subpar CGI. But there’s one area where the movie excelled, and that was the costume design. Dang did Anthony Powell[b] make some gorgeous outfits. Ultimately, he earned an Oscar nomination but ultimately lost to Janty Yates’s work on “Gladiator.”

It’s not rare for mediocre action movies to be nominated for technical Oscars. As unengaging as their stories may be, they are still well made films, and “Eraser” is no different. Its sound editing was honored at the 69th Academy Awards, being one of just three movies to receive a nomination in that field. Unfortunately, it did not win, and unfortunately, the movie surrounding the sound was not up to snuff. Maybe if you just listened to it you’d have a better time. Most people criticized its paper thin plot, as the movie followed a generic action formula that had long been dated by the mid ‘90s.

In 1980, Jean M. Auel[c] published “The Clan of the Cave Bear,” a novel set in prehistoric times in which an early modern human named Ayla is raised by a clan of Neanderthals. Six years later, it was adapted for film starring Daryl Hannah as Ayla. She was…not very good, and neither was the movie itself. It greatly struggled with pacing, often rushing through pivotal moments of the book and losing much of its intricate detail. It condensed this rich material into a streamlined 98 minutes, dropping important subplots and character development and losing much of the story’s depth in the process. However, both Michael Westmore and Michèle Burke received Oscar nominations for their makeup.

This comedy about a family of dogs certainly found an audience, grossing nearly $120 million. But its critical reception was much less favorable. “Beethoven’s 2nd” is the exact type of silly family movie you’d expect from the early ‘90s, complete with one-dimensional characters and a predictable plot. But it was also much worse than the original, diluting the emotional core that made it resonate with families and leaning heavily into silly slapstick. By all accounts, it was just another forgettable sequel, and it would have been instantly forgotten had it not been for the work of James Ingram and Dolly Parton. Their song “The Day I Fall in Love” received a slew of award nominations, including an Oscar nod for Best Song.

Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor in the same movie? How could it go so wrong? The answer, sadly, is that Eddie Murphy is not a good director. This was a dream project of his, as he always wanted to work with Richard Pryor and make a period piece about Depression-era Harlem. Unfortunately, he totally squandered the opportunity and made a terrible film, a tonal mess with severe pacing issues and an underutilized cast. It was so bad that Murphy won the Razzie for Worst Screenplay and never directed again. However, his film did have one thing going for it, and that was an Oscar nomination for best costume design. Those suits are pretty darned cool…

It wasn’t often that Robin Williams steered himself wrong, but “Patch Adams” is one of the rare exceptions. While the medical drama was a huge hit and retains a cult following, it was critically eviscerated and remains one of the most maudlin films ever made. This thing is like cough syrup - it’s way too sweet and makes us grimace in discomfort. It’s also filled with terrible writing, its characters being annoyingly one-dimensional and the script providing an inaccurate representation of the real Patch Adams. And medical practice. And law. And, well, most things, really. However, it was ultimately nominated in the very short-lived category Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, which lasted from just 1996 to 1999 after proving unpopular.

Many people today complain about unnecessary sequels. But just remember - we got a sequel to “The Sting” back in 1983. This problem has been going on for decades. The original was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven, a brilliant success that is now preserved in the National Film Registry. The sequel earned one nomination for Best Musical Score, and it was probably a pity nomination at that. The drop in quality between films is simply astounding. The script is worse in every respect, the filmmaking is not nearly as sharp and refined, and maybe worst of all, they replaced Paul Newman and Robert Redford with Jackie Gleason and Mac Davis. If we didn’t know any better, we’d say we got conned.

A lot of ink has been spilled in regards to “Emilia Pérez.” For many, it has been enormously overvalued by the Academy and other award bodies, with many feeling that they were honoring the message rather than the filmmaking. Your mileage may vary, of course. The movie has drawn intense criticism for its transgender representation, it is virulently hated in Mexico, and various behind-the-scenes dramas have weakened its cultural impact. And then there’s just the generally bad filmmaking, like terrible songs, a weak script, and Selena Gomez’s awful performance. Regardless, it earned a staggering thirteen Oscar nominations, which only eleven films in history have achieved. It’s a monumental achievement that many feel was not earned.

The Veterans

Helmed by director and animator Tom McGrath, who’s worked on everything from “Space Jam” to “Megamind”, and headlined by such vocal talents as Alec Baldwin and Steve Buscemi, it’s no surprise that “The Boss Baby” cleaned up at the box office. But let’s be honest, this film, which is about an infant who wears a suit, calls himself “The Boss” and is actually a secret agent, isn’t the kind of film people will be talking about a decade from now. In fact, despite being nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, “The Boss Baby” didn’t even garner the best reviews from film critics; you know, the people that do that sort of thing for a living…

If you had told us back in 2006 that a film starring Adam Sandler in which he plays a man who discovers a remote control that can manipulate time would be nominated for an Academy Award, we would have laughed you out of the room. “Click” is by no means a good movie. Sure, it made copious amounts of money but so do most Adam Sandler flicks. With a measly 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and reviews such as this one from the Wall Street Journal, which called the film “an abomination,” it’s not difficult to see why we were surprised it scored an Oscar nom. But it did, for Best Makeup.

“Batman” and “Batman Returns”, both of which were directed by Tim Burton, are certifiable classics. However, “Batman Forever”, which was directed by Joel Schumacher, is not. Despite a cast that included Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey at the height of his ‘90s fame, the film was a critical disappointment; though not nearly as bad as the film that followed it (which shall not be named). And yet, “Batman Forever” still managed to score an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, though it would lose out to “Braveheart”.

David Fincher, the director that’s given us such cinematic gems as “Fight Club” and “The Social Network”, dropped the ball on this one… and he knows it. Fincher publicly disowned the film and in 2009 quipped, "a lot of people hated Alien 3, but no one hated it more than I did.” Damn, that’s harsh. When he agreed to direct “Alien 3” - his first feature film by the way - he was in his late 20s and working under constant pressure from studio executives. The infamously plagued production still managed to make a pretty penny at the box office en route to an Oscar nom for Best Visual Effects, so it wasn’t a total loss!

With an enormous amount of hype surrounding it, what with its all-star cast and brilliant source material, “Suicide Squad” cruised to a cool $746 million at the box office in 2016; but don’t let the dough fool you. The film, which is about a group of criminals forced to work together in order to bring down an evil witch, was panned by critics and currently holds a 26% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, that didn’t stop it from being nominated for and winning the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. In all honesty, that was one of the film’s few silver linings.

Starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, “The Long Ranger” was one of 2013’s biggest productions. Based on the popular 20th century radio and TV series, the film is about the crime-fighting duo of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, who battle outlaws in the Old West. Unfortunately, the premise failed to connect with audiences and today the film is considered a critical and commercial disappointment, with one critic calling it “Frustrating, lazy and lifeless.” Despite all that, it still managed to earn Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The film’s one bid to save face was dashed when it failed to win in either category.

When it was released, “Waterworld” was the most expensive film ever made. Directed by and starring Kevin Costner - who at the time was one of the biggest movie stars on the planet - the film is about a post-apocalyptic world in which the polar ice caps had melted, causing the oceans to envelope practically all habitable land. The bizarre premise failed to hit the mark with audiences and critics alike and was a flop in the United States. Of course that didn’t stop it from being nominated at the 68th Academy Awards for Best Sound; an award it would lose to “Apollo 13”.

Before you ask: no, we’re not making this up. “Fifty Shades of Grey”, the erotic drama based on the 2011 novel of the same name, scored an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song at the 88th Academy Awards. The song in question was “Earned It” by The Weeknd and it lost to “Spectre’s” “Writing’s on the Wall”. To say that “Fifty Shades of Grey” isn’t for everyone may seem like an understatement to most critics. Just listen to a few these from respected reviewers, who called it “boring”, “abysmally bad” and “lousy”. Tough crowd.

Of all the “Transformers” films that have been released, one could make the argument that this one is the worst, but it would have some tough competition. Sporting a lowly rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes and peppered with negative reviews from the get-go, many people would describe “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” as terrible. In fact, the Michael Bay directed flick was nominated for a whopping seven Razzies, and “won” for Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay…yikes. But it wasn’t all bad! The film was also nominated for Best Sound Mixing at the 82nd Oscars… but lost to “The Hurt Locker”.

Without further ado, we present to you what’s possibly the worst movie to have ever been nominated for an Academy Award: “Norbit”. The film, which features Eddie Murphy portraying multiple characters, is about a man attempting to distance himself from his crass, overweight and adulterous wife so that he can woo his childhood crush. “Norbit” pulled in decent numbers at the box office but that didn’t stop Richard Roeper from calling it “offensively bad”. Dwarfing its one Oscar nomination for Best Makeup is eight Razzie nominations, including five for Murphy…three of which he “won”. In the pantheon of bad movies nominated for Oscars, “Norbit” has no equal.

[a]https://youtu.be/Iqr-GEo0G5s?si=6rktSKL2CklQSbYd
[b]anta-nee https://youtu.be/DBx-wS1k1po?si=52L6mnftnngSCJ8E&t=9
https://youtu.be/KODJferqaN8?si=6xSrlzjWFN0RaHI_
[c]gene em owl https://youtu.be/HstMYsXdpUY?si=DrKSLBsJN6j0GV_Y&t=33
AY-luh https://youtu.be/BFtZcK3t1gw?si=noTCxIOCvj19tb4w&t=57
michelle https://youtu.be/P8KUxs-klCQ?si=T_2bHiF-a_1UTFJN&t=9