The Lowest-Scoring Best Picture Nominees of the Past 30 Years
As history—and Metascores—show, Academy Award nominations reveal best picture contenders, but not necessarily the best pictures.
We've looked through the best picture Oscar fields of the last 30 years, from the 1989 nominees through the recently announced 2018 field, cross-checked the nominees' Metacritic scores, and ranked the 24 lowest-scoring films, from the bottom to the relative top. Four of these films went on to become best picture winners—but none boasts a Metascore higher than 69.
With 12 Oscar nominations and five Oscar wins, including best picture and best actor (Russell Crowe), this 2000 sword-and-sand epic is the most decorated film on this ignominious list. It prevailed over the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Almost Famous, the latter of which wasn't even nominated for best picture. Many reviewers raved about director Ridley Scott's "stunning" film (Philadelphia Inquirer), but others found it big, loud and "silly" (The New York Times).
“Well, it's better than The Phantom Menace.” —Ann Hornaday, Baltimore Sun
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