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12 Award-Winning Movies That Are Actually Terrible

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Nazarii Verbitskiy

TV Shows & Movies - February 19th 2026, 18:30 GMT+1

Cropped Bohemian Rhapsody — 12. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

*Bohemian Rhapsody* won four Oscars – including Best Actor and, controversially, Best Film Editing – and that combo kind of sums up the experience. Rami Malek gives you a magnetic center, but the movie around him is a choppy, sanitized sprint through a life that deserved more bite. Timelines get bent, conflicts feel pre-packaged, and the storytelling plays it safe even when the real history was messy. Knowing it went through major behind-the-scenes upheaval only makes the patchwork seams stand out more. | © 20th Century Fox

Pearl Harbor 2001 cropped processed by imagy — 11. Pearl Harbor (2001)

Big, glossy war spectacle is one thing; turning tragedy into a soap-opera love triangle is another. The film did snag an Academy Award (Best Sound Editing), and you can feel the money on-screen in the explosions, dogfights, and widescreen chaos – it’s basically a fireworks show with uniforms. The problem is everything between the set pieces: clunky dialogue, a romance that feels airlifted in from another movie, and historical moments treated like background dressing. If you’ve ever wanted emotional whiplash packaged as prestige, *Pearl Harbor* is the poster child. | © Touchstone Pictures

Best Sports Movies of the 21st Century The Blind Side — 10. The Blind Side (2009)

Sandra Bullock winning Best Actress is the headline achievement here, but it can’t paper over what many viewers now see as a deeply awkward framing of someone else’s life. The movie nudges you toward easy tears with inspirational beats that feel pre-packaged, and it often treats its real-life subject more like a symbol than a full person. On top of that, years of debate about what was simplified or distorted have made the whole story feel even more manufactured in hindsight. Watch it as a performance showcase and it mostly works; watch it as truth and *The Blind Side* gets messy fast. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

9. The Social Network (2010)

Technically, this one is a masterclass: it’s fast, clean, and surgically edited, and the Oscars (Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Original Score) didn’t come out of nowhere. The issue is how often the film confuses sharpness for depth – so many scenes play like intellectual fencing matches where nobody bleeds. By the time the betrayals pile up, the characters can feel like beautifully written positions in an argument rather than people you actually care about. If you’re allergic to smug genius energy, *The Social Network* lands less like a drama and more like a two-hour flex. | © Columbia Pictures

The Shape of Water 2017 cropped processed by imagy — 8. The Shape of Water (2017)

It’s gorgeous to look at, and the Academy clearly agreed – four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, is a serious sweep. But *The Shape of Water* also asks you to buy into a romance that, for a lot of people, plays more like an aesthetic idea than real chemistry. The tonal jumps can be jarring, the plotting sometimes feels too convenient, and the film’s sincerity can tip into self-importance if you’re not fully on its dreamlike wavelength. When the mood works, it’s enchanting; when it doesn’t, you’re left admiring the craft while feeling absolutely nothing. | © Fox Searchlight Pictures

7. Crash (2004)

Nothing keeps this film in the conversation like the Best Picture win – the trophy turned every flaw into a permanent argument. The script leans on coincidences like crutches, stacking moral lessons until characters start behaving like walking thesis statements. Instead of observing racism’s complexity, it often forces “big moments” where the message is louder than the humanity, and the emotional pivots feel engineered rather than earned. Even when the intent is sincere, the execution can come off as manipulative, simplistic, and oddly self-congratulatory. That’s why *Crash* still sparks groans as quickly as it sparks debate. | © Lions Gate Films

6. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

*Alice in Wonderland* walked away with two Oscars (Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design), and honestly, those trophies make sense the moment the screen turns into a gothic candy store. The problem is that all the visual sugar comes with a sluggish, noisy story that mistakes “more CGI” for wonder. Characters ping-pong between quirky and hollow, and the emotional beats land with the weight of confetti. It’s the kind of movie you remember as a mood board, not as a film you actually enjoyed watching. | © Walt Disney Pictures

Cropped La La Land — 5. La La Land (2016)

That Oscars night chaos when the wrong Best Picture was announced almost became the movie’s most memorable scene, which says a lot. *La La Land* did clean up with six Academy Awards (including Best Director and Best Actress), and the craft is undeniable: camera moves, color, and musical staging all hit their marks. But the story can feel oddly thin for something this adored, with characters who glide through big emotions like they’re skimming a highlight reel. If the nostalgia doesn’t charm you, what’s left is a very polished shrug. | © Lionsgate

Cropped The Joker Suicide Squad 2016 — 4. Suicide Squad (2016)

The wildest thing about this one is that it actually has an Academy Award: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which it earned with sheer commitment to grime, glitter, and chaos. Everything else feels like a movie assembled in a hurry from competing ideas – grim crime flick, neon music video, and quippy superhero romp all fighting for control. The tone snaps back and forth, character arcs start and stop mid-sentence, and the villain plot lands with a thud. Even the cast’s energy can’t fully rescue what *Suicide Squad* became in the final cut. | © Warner Bros. Picturesaber

The Wolfman 2010 — 3. The Wolfman (2010)

There’s a genuinely great monster movie hiding in here somewhere, and you can almost hear it howling from behind the edit. The makeup work even earned an Oscar, which feels like a reward for the one part that consistently delivers. But the pacing is clunky, the scares are muted, and the whole thing moves with that “troubled production” energy where scenes feel stitched together rather than built. When the atmosphere should be thick and terrifying, it’s often just… damp, like a costume drama that accidentally grew fangs in *The Wolfman*. | © Universal Pictures

The Ghost and the Darkness 1996 cropped processed by imagy — 2. The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

The real Tsavo man-eaters are nightmare fuel, which makes it extra frustrating that the film can’t hold onto its own tension. *The Ghost and the Darkness* did win an Oscar (Best Sound Effects Editing), and you can hear why: the night scenes crackle with dread, roars, and sudden violence. Then the movie undercuts itself with pulpy hero beats, thin characterization, and an adventure tone that smooths out the uglier historical edges. It wants to be a prestige thriller and a crowd-pleaser at the same time – and ends up feeling weirdly weightless for a story this brutal. | © Paramount Pictures

1. The English Patient (1996)

Nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, should make this untouchable – and yet it’s one of those winners people love to argue with. The romance is staged like capital-R “Romance,” but for a lot of viewers it plays more like elegant misery stretched past its natural limits. It’s sweeping, sure, but also self-serious in a way that can feel numbing rather than moving, like prestige drama on autopilot. Even pop culture has dunked on how punishing it feels to sit through *The English Patient*. | © Miramax Films

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Awards are supposed to be the shortcut: a shiny stamp that says “trust us, it’s good.” But between hype cycles, campaign momentum, and taste-makers getting swept up in the moment, even “award-winning” can turn into a very expensive magic trick.

So here are 12 movies that racked up statues, prizes, or prestige – and still left a lot of viewers wondering what everyone was clapping for. Some are dull, some are messy, some are accidentally ridiculous… and all of them prove that trophies don’t always equal a great time.

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Awards are supposed to be the shortcut: a shiny stamp that says “trust us, it’s good.” But between hype cycles, campaign momentum, and taste-makers getting swept up in the moment, even “award-winning” can turn into a very expensive magic trick.

So here are 12 movies that racked up statues, prizes, or prestige – and still left a lot of viewers wondering what everyone was clapping for. Some are dull, some are messy, some are accidentally ridiculous… and all of them prove that trophies don’t always equal a great time.