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.
The Godfather was perfect; it literally boasts a Metascore of 100. The Godfather: Part II was likewise acclaimed. Both are best picture-winners. Then there's The Godfather: Part III. When it arrived in 1990, it was called "lumbering" by The New Yorker. Adding insult to insult, it didn't make good on one of its seven Oscar nominations.
“One of the most frustrating films of 1990, an epic without epic scope, a muted, strained, unnatural affair that never comes into dramatic focus.” —TV Guide
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