Mediocre Films That Won Acting Oscars

This list certainly varies among people but it’s worth exploring because a film has a certain cache if it wins an Oscar for acting even if acting and the overall quality of the film are tangentially related. I’m reminded of the 2012 campaign for Nicole Kidman in “The Paperboy” where some of the FYC sites were trying to grapple with a great performance in a bad film.

Pollock (Marcia Gay Harden, 2000)- A pretty typical biopic. Brilliant guy drinks a lot, makes a terrible husband, makes a terrible friend. Been there done that. Considering Ed Harris directed this, I’m assuming that the only reason for its existence was to give the longtime character actor a leading role to sink his teeth into.

True Grit (John Wayne, 1969)-Simply put, it’s one of the more boring Westerns I’ve seen. John Wayne has a great screen presence but a great John Wayne film needs the movie to curve more to him than the other way around.

Shampoo (Lee Grant)- A hairdresser has a bunch of affairs. The affairs are played by high-profile actresses of the day: Carrie Fisher, Julie Christie, and Lee Grant (who really didn’t stand out compared to Julie Christie which is why I was doubly-baffled at this win). Maybe I needed to watch the film more closely, but was there any character development on anyone’s part? I since asked and there was some social commentary in the…