Sometimes a group of dedicated filmmakers simply have the necessary passion and skill (along with a little bit of luck) for their project to be duly rewarded when awards season rolls around. Other times a film is made with the full expectation that those involved will get a shiny little statue, and they succeed because the actors manage to deliver Oscar-worthy performances.
And then there are the unfortunate times that Oscar bait actors throw out Oscar bait performances and the Academy doesn’t even nibble - either because the thespians in question tried way too hard and came off looking ridiculous, or as a result of numerous other factors that can cause a movie intended to garner prestige to wind up merely making audiences laugh at the sad attempt (or worse, roll their eyes and walk out due to boredom). Vote up the actors you think obviously wanted a new trophy for their bookcase but instead gave dollar stores something to toss in their bargain bin.
- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: No matter how many chances he gets, for some reason John Travolta seems to get himself involved in films so embarrassing (Perfect, Battlefield Earth, The Fanatic) that he must be constantly on the lookout for roles that will prevent his legacy from becoming a cautionary tale in unintended comedy. Playing the role of John "The Teflon Don" Gotti, America’s last celebrity mafioso, in a biopic announced in 2010 must have seemed like an attractive proposition. After all, his fellow Italian actors Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro are legends for playing gangsters - so why couldn’t the handsome kid from Welcome Back Kotter follow suit?
Why It Failed: Speaking of Pacino, he was originally attached to the project but left. And speaking of Pesci, he gained 30 pounds for a part he was promised, then sued the production company after it recast his role and cut his salary. Those are but two of the conundrums that resulted in the production of Gotti taking eight years to complete, which apparently still wasn’t enough time to figure out that Travolta probably wasn’t the best fit for the lead role. Earning just $6 million toward the $10 million spent on it, the movie even failed to win any of the six Golden Raspberry Awards (as well as the single Golden Schmoes Award) for which it was nominated.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: One would think most rational people would only rapidly gain (or lose) an unhealthy amount of body mass, simply to look more believable for a movie role, if the reward at least matched the risk. As such, Jared Leto must have thought it would be worth his weight in gold-plated Oscar bronze when he packed on the pounds in 2007 to play Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27, the story of that individual and his delusions leading to his fatal shooting of John Lennon.
Why It Failed: Sadly, acquiring 67 extra pounds via guzzling nightly microwaved pints of ice cream, soy sauce, and olive oil (which gave him a nasty case of gout) garnered few accolades. The end result could best be described, as Lennon's son himself put it, as "tacky." However, if you’re a Lindsay Lohan completionist, be sure to see her play the supporting character named Jude, whom Leto greets by saying, "Hey."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: After spending years known primarily as the lanky goofus from That '70s Show and a May-September romance with Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher was surely anxious to show he could be more than a paparazzi-dodging sitcom darling whose most memorable movie role was Dude, Where’s My Car?
Jobs, a biopic about Apple founder Steve Jobs, would not only show that Kutcher had some gravitas hiding somewhere in there, but with award-collectors Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, J.K. Simmons, and James Woods lurking in the lineup, it seemed the local Hollywood trophy shop might as well get a head start and begin engraving Ashton Kutcher on a new Oscar ASAP.
Why It Failed: Although Jobs only cost a mere $12 million to make, it only made a scant $16 million at the domestic box office. A financial performance that could charitably be described as “modest,” while others would say "flop." However, the critics weren’t modest whatsoever when it came to mauling the film overall. Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, hated the script (although his opinion could have been influenced by the fact he was involved in another production about Jobs). Sadly, a Rotten Tomatoes score of 28% and a critical consensus that Jobs "has the feel of an over-sentimentalized made-for-TV biopic" did not result in a red carpet walk for Kutcher. But luckily for him, television (in the form of Two and a Half Men and The Ranch) welcomed him back home with warm, loving arms.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Coming on the heels of the sci-fi hit Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio must have been anxious to see if he could win some awards by dabbling in some prestige drama (and untethered from the hip of director Martin Scorsese). Playing the infamous former head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover in (the rather unimaginatively titled) J. Edgar while being directed by Clint Eastwood must have seemed like a no-lose scenario.
Why It Failed: Hoover was certainly a colorful and important figure in American history, but one thing he was not was easy on the eyes. So right off the bat, having one of Hollywood’s prettiest actors portray the infamous bureaucrat was a bit hard to swallow. Nonetheless, DiCaprio gave his usual strong effort, but sitting through long periods of him pretending to be a personality-challenged nerd with dreams of turning the US into a surveillance state, along with critical descriptions that liberally included adjectives like “cheesy” and “humdrum,” proved to be difficult for even 2011’s most bored moviegoers. The bad old-age makeup didn't help, either.
Bad Oscar bait?Why It Was Oscar Bait: Benedict Cumberbatch had already proven himself a reliable source of idiosyncratic and effective acting by 2013, and one might have figured The Fifth Estate, in which he plays WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, would be a sure-fire bet to get showered in awards. With Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks behind the production, a stellar supporting cast, and the Oscar-nominated Bill Condon in the director’s chair, all you’d have to do is dump some peroxide on Cumberbatch’s hair and let him go to town, right?
Why It Failed: Well, the good news about The Fifth Estate is that Cumberbatch was outstanding in it. The fact that the film earned less than a third of its budget was not so wonderful. And when Assange himself described the film as a "massive propaganda attack," it was even less delightful. While everything aside from Cumberbatch received a critical beating, his performance, combined with his work on 12 Years a Slave, August: Osage County, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and Star Trek Into Darkness, at least earned him the prize for British Artist of the Year at the Britannia Awards.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Louise "Madonna" Ciccone has long been equally renowned for both her constant self-reinvention and attention-seeking mega-diva behavior, so it was only a matter of time before she went in search of not just an acting career, but one that would culminate in her thanking all the little people after being handed a Best Actress trophy. Playing Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy and getting naked as a jaybird in Body of Evidence did not achieve that goal. But surely playing the lead in Evita - a movie based on a hugely successful Broadway play, and which would take advantage of both her active and singing skills - would result in everlasting Hollywood glory.
Why It Failed: Despite singing tunes from a hit soundtrack written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber and having the support of respected actors Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas, a movie musical about a woman who inherited the leadership of a South American nation received a collective “meh” from both filmgoers and critics. Rather unsurprisingly, the music was well-received, as the songs were already proven hits on stage. Perhaps Carol Buckland of CNN put it best when she wrote, "Evita is basically a music video with epic pretensions."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Hillbilly Elegy was a successful and lauded 2016 memoir by J.D. Vance, an influential venture capitalist and author who managed to escape his humble beginnings in rural Appalachia. Making it into a full-length feature directed by Ron Howard and casting it with luminaries like Amy Adams and Glenn Close would surely make it an odds-on favorite to be one of 2020's awards-season darlings. Especially with everyone quarantined and stuck watching whatever Netflix decides to promote heavily and beam into America’s living rooms.
Why It Failed: While an alarming-looking Close gave it her all, Hillbilly Elegy plummeted from Netflix’s most-watched movie to eighth in the space of a week, with critics put off by the negative stereotypes and referring to it as "poverty p*rn." The story came off to many as a boring soap opera with high production values, which perhaps helped viewers come to terms with the fact that they may have just wasted 115 minutes of their lives. Because, as Rahul Desai of Film Companion described it, "The film is shameless Oscar-bait. But as with most recent Ron Howard movies, he has a way of making bad movies feel good."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: The year 2000 was well before Kevin Spacey became persona non grata in Hollywood for reasons too sordid to elaborate upon here. The turn of the millennium found Spacey near the top of the heap in Hollywood for his roles in The Usual Suspects, Seven, and American Beauty. Surely his next role - as a scarred (both physically and emotionally!) middle school social studies teacher who, along with Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment, finds love and happiness through the power of charity - in a film titled Pay It Forward would be another winner. Not satisfied, Academy? What if we told you that Jay Mohr, James Caviezel, and even Angie Dickinson are in the cast, for crying out loud?
Why It Failed: Well, on a positive note, critics gave credit to most of the actors involved for delivering strong performances. It was the story they tore apart like a dog with a cheap slipper. That’s no exaggeration. Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum even called the movie "reprehensible" because it employed "shameless cliches of emotional and physical damage." Furthermore, it was guilty of "blackmailing audiences into joining the let's-be-nice 'movement.'" Yowtch.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Coming immediately after the financially (but not critically) successful I Am Legend and Hancock action flicks, Team Will Smith likely felt it was time to return to drama. So when he got the chance to team up with the director who helped him get an Oscar nomination just a few years before with The Pursuit of Happyness, visions of acceptance speeches must have been dancing in his head. The film in question, Seven Pounds, starred not only Smith as an IRS agent with a heart, but also a supporting cast of Woody Harrelson, Rosario Dawson, and Barry Pepper, none of whom were strangers to red carpet strutting. The title was a bit confusing and never really explained in the movie, but was a reference to Shakespeare's "pound of flesh" from The Merchant of Venice and how Smith’s character is atoning for his involvement in the deaths of seven people. Classy!
Why It Failed: Apparently, an intense scene with a jellyfish in a bathtub (lovingly presented here for your enjoyment) and a script by one of the writers responsible for Adam Sandler’s Jack & Jill wasn’t enough to avoid critical wrath and widespread indifference from theatergoers (which was partially blamed on bad weather). Dawson received lots of kudos for her participation, at least, but she couldn’t save the film itself from reviews like this florid evisceration from A.O. Scott of The New York Times: "Seven Pounds may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, crazily awful motion pictures ever made."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Sean Penn was actually nominated for an Oscar (losing to Denzel Washington in Training Day) for his role as Sam Dawson in I Am Sam, a film about a man with an intellectual disability and his complicated relationship with his daughter. One can imagine that the loss likely came as something of a shock, since it had all the critic-pleasing elements in place. Didn't Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump clean house at the Academy Awards for this sort of thing?
Why It Failed: There’s a scene in Tropic Thunder in which Robert Downey Jr.’s character explains to Ben Stiller’s character that the latter’s film about a mentally challenged man, Simple Jack, failed because Stiller made the mistake of... well, you know. And as the movie’s scriptwriters have explained explicitly, they drew inspiration for that scene from I Am Sam. It’s puzzling why Penn was nominated at all, as his performance received largely negative reviews from critics. It seems in retrospect that Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Sam’s lawyer and got great reviews, perhaps should have been given the recognition. The current state of I Am Sam's legacy is a meager 35% on Rotten Tomatoes and this critical summary: "Not only does the manipulative I Am Sam oversimplify a complex issue, it drowns it in treacle."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Cuba Gooding Jr. had already won an Oscar for his supporting work in Jerry Maguire when he was offered the lead role in the true story Radio, in which he plays a mentally challenged young man who is bullied by high school football players but then befriends the team’s coach (played by powerhouse actor Ed Harris). With (pre-lengthy-hiatus) Debra Winger and Alfre Woodard also in the cast, it looked like Gooding Jr. might just have an even more prestigious statue to display prominently in his rumpus room.
Why It Failed: Like Sean Penn in I Am Sam just two years before, Gooding Jr. may not have heeded Tropic Thunder's (deeply politically incorrect) advice. Most critics felt the character, who is called Radio because he carries one everywhere and is treated like a being of pure goodness (yet little more than a mascot) throughout, wasn’t quite as uplifting and inspirational as the filmmakers had hoped. But at least the movie was nominated for an ESPY for best sports movie... which must mean there weren’t too many of those in 2003, as Gooding Jr. was also nominated for worst actor at that year’s Golden Raspberry Awards.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Breaking Bad's Walter White earned Bryan Cranston a truckload of Emmy Awards and Golden Globes. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 2016 for Trumbo, but failed to beat out unfortunate bear victim Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant. Not long afterward, he had another (presumptive) chance at winning the coveted shiny man when he took on the role of a quadriplegic billionaire, with Kevin Hart providing comic relief as an unemployed parolee, in The Upside, a remake of the French hit The Intouchables.
Why It Failed: While Cranston and Hart did have some chemistry together, Hart was pretty much relegated to a stereotypical jerk who learns important life lessons by caring for someone worse off than himself (while changing his catheter in the process). Cranston’s grumpy character of course learns all sorts of life lessons himself, as everyone predictably proceeds towards the promised land of self-betterment, leading to a Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus of, "Preachy, manipulative, and frustratingly clichéd.” The Upside did make a ton of money for the studio, however. So there’s that.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: In 1998, Brad Pitt was only seven years removed from bursting onto the silver screen as Hollywood’s hunkiest new slice of beefcake in Thelma & Louise. It didn’t take long for him to be involved in some films that got Academy recognition and even one (12 Monkeys) that nabbed him a supporting actor nomination. But he had yet to prove himself an Oscar-worthy leading man. So he was probably quite statue-thirsty when he was sent the script for Meet Joe Black, which put him in the lead role in a romantic story about a billionaire who learns about the true meaning of sacrifice and love with a little help from the paranormal.
Why It Failed: Meet Joe Black was three hours long, which is barely acceptable when you’re talking about a movie about dragons and Hobbits. When your film has to be substantially shortened to be usable for airline flights, it better be pretty darn exciting... which Meet Joe Black was not. While his co-star Anthony Hopkins received positive reviews, Pitt’s acting was described as “execrable.” And unfortunately there is no Oscar category for "Most Execrable Performance in a Leading Role."
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: Faye Dunaway will live forever as Hollywood royalty for her powerful portrayals of a wide variety of characters in dozens of award-winning films. In 1981, she already had an Academy Award for Best Actress (for Network) to her name, plus a pair of additional nominations. Getting the chance to play another legendary actress from another generation, Joan Crawford, in a daring look at her failures as a parent, would surely see her finally receiving a companion for her one sad and lonely Oscar.
Why It Failed: While Mommie Dearest was a definite box-office success, it certainly wasn’t because the acting - or the movie as a whole - could be described as Oscar-worthy. “Campy and undisciplined” (part of the Rotten Tomatoes consensus) is probably a much better way to put it. Dunaway may have given us an iconic performance with all the over-the-top “No more wire hangers!” antics, but it was memorable more for its terrifying silliness than anything else. People may have flocked to theaters to see the “so bad it’s good” qualities of Mommie Dearest, but poor Dunaway’s Oscar would be doomed to be forever alone.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: While Robert Downey Jr. certainly had no reason to complain about the metric ton of cash he made for headlining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Tony Stark/Iron Man, he must have yearned for the days when he was a respected and perennial favorite of the critics. He earned his strong critical reputation for taking on challenging and meaty roles in movies like Chaplin, Natural Born Killers, Zodiac, and Weird Science. Um, maybe not that last one so much. Anyways, in 2014, he got the opportunity to show off his dramatic bona fides once again in The Judge, in which he would be performing alongside Robert Duvall, with contributions from Vincent D'Onofrio and Billy Bob Thornton. Time to get that red carpet tuxedo pressed!
Why It Failed: Incredibly, despite the stellar aforementioned cast - which you’d think would get a special award just for appearing on the same set together - The Judge’s most notable achievement was how precisely mediocre it turned out to be. It made some money, but nothing to write home about. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is only two points away from an even 50% and boasts a tepid description that includes how it “seems destined to preside over a large jurisdiction of the basic cable afternoon-viewing circuit.” As a consolation perhaps, while RDJ saw no new Oscar nominations forthcoming, there are definitely worse outcomes than making a movie that’s a favorite at retirement home movie nights.
Bad Oscar bait?- Photo:
Why It Was Oscar Bait: By 1998, the year Patch Adams was released, Robin Williams had already proven he could handle dramatic roles just as adeptly as the ones that utilized his unmatched manic comic energy. So one would figure that mashing things up in a movie where he plays a doctor who heals people through laughter, combining tear-jerking tragedy with heartwarming laughter, would be a surefire path down the road to Oscarville.
Why It Failed: First off, it’s not a great sign when the real-life person your film is based on states publicly, "I hate that movie." Instead of jerking tears, Patch Adams' rubber-nosed, bedpan-for-a-hat antics and overabundant use of children rendered bald from chemotherapy brought out the creativity of critics, who panned the 115 minutes of sanctimonious sentimentalism with reviews like this gem from Janet Maslin of The New York Times: "Doctor uses humor to heal. So why do we still feel sick?" And then there was this vicious serving of reality from Richard Corliss of Time: "Comics who want to do Hamlet often end up, as here, serving big, sticky slices of ham."
Bad Oscar bait?
