The Best of a Bad Lot: Oscar Winning Actresses in Bad Movies
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 at 10:00PM 
The shade of it all... the 1974 ceremony for the Best Actresses of 1973 (L-R from the bottom corner) Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson, Barbra Streisand
Christmas really brings out my contrarian side, and since it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (awards season), permit me to be a humbug. Those who truly appreciate the Oscars understand that sometimes it is about the politics and not the performance. Academy voters are not infallible, but we shouldn't underestimate their other important role in taking the cultural temperature to find out what and who was hot in cinema in any given year. Without getting into a discussion of who did and didn't deserve their award, there are definitely some great female performances honored in films that may otherwise not have been so deserving. Some potentially controversial opinions after the jump...
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class (1973)
I longed for years to see this, described to me once as "a film about a feminist who falls in love with a married man." I expected a searing 1970s socio-political satire with an indomitable Glenda Jackson realizing that love is but a bourgeois sham! Instead, A Touch of Class is a film made by Brut (yes, the cologne), has all the appeal of a failed sitcom pilot and stinks as bad as cheap perfume. Time has not been good to this one, but there's no faulting Glenda as she escapes unscathed clutching her Oscar, even after making the odd rape joke. Glenda's Oscar clip in which she asks George Segal to get out distills some of her much needed gravitas. At least we have the ending, as Vicki Alessio knows that he is never going to leave his wife. And if you need further proof that this win caused a bit of upset, just look at Marsha, Ellen and Joanne.
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady (2011)
I hope that The Iron Lady is on a screenwriting course somewhere, as a case study on how plot structure can ruin a film. Taking two insufficently developed stories: A woman with dementia who happens to be named Margaret Thatcher, and another starring Meryl Streep in drag, in a clip reel of the actual Margaret Thatcher and shoving them together in a quest to win Meryl an Oscar. When the material around the performance is so flimsy it really makes a performance (or in this case, an impression?) stand out. But there are defintely moments to enjoy: the creation of Maggie T from her pearls to her voice, to the scene in which she has fully become a vampire and devours her cabinet one by one. But The Iron Lady uses the excuse of excising the majority of Thatcher's political life to focus on the "human story", when really the scenes of dementia offer Meryl little to do other than wear some of J. Roy Helland's delightful make-up. Issues like the miners' strike and the IRA zip by, compacting two lives and a myriad of events into 1 hour and 45 minutes. And somehow even that feels too long.
Frances McDormand in Three Bilboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2017)
Come February when McDormand appears to announce the award for Best Actor, we will sadly be reminded of the dreck that won her her second Oscar. There isn't a single person out there who has any ill-will to Frances McDormand, but even when she is polishing her awards, you know her one for Fargo shines brighter. Three Billboards is a messy, noisy, at times incoherent and ultimately empty story. Martin McDonagh's creation resembled neither Missouri nor reality, and took the very strong premise of a mother's sense of retribution for her daughter's killing and polluted it with unlikeable sidekicks, and violence for the hell of it, well... because McDonagh.
Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982)
Wait. Before you accuse me of dragging a Holocaust movie, just when was the last time you saw Sophie's Choice? While there are moments where Meryl is technically brilliant, for example, speaking German with a Polish accent, these are the bits you remember, when in actuality, Sophie's Choice is grating three-way love story where they don't even get it on! Even Michael Schulman can't defend this one. Our lead is Peter MacNicol as the deeply annoying young writer Stingo, living in a boarding house one floor beneath the sensual and sensitive Sophie and her boyfriend Nathan, played by Kevin Kline. Sophie's Choice was Kline's first film and you can tell: he's acting for the back row, broader than the movie screen itself. These losers teeter on the edge of a group thing plenty of times, but of course nothing comes of it, leaving Sophie to reveal what happened to her deep into the second half of this long film. We know the Academy is a worthy body, but it was the HFPA who nominated her for Death Becomes Her. Just sayin'.
There can't only be four! Make your case in the comments below, and be an equal opportunities contrarian.
Reader Comments (77)
Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice
Kate Winslet for The Reader
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
I do like Kate and Sandra persona performances a lot though. Meryl in these are not my favourite, I wish she had a win for Devil Wears Prada (but if the movie was from 2011, so Helen Mirren would keep hers also, lol, but then we would change too much of the course of gay culture).
Susan Hayward -- I Want To Live
A terrible film AND performance. How did Roz Russell lose.
Elizabeth Taylor -- Butterfield 8
Liz is underrated in this pretty entertaining campfest.
Jessica Tandy -- Driving Miss Daisy
And now we have Green Book to remind us how shitty the original also was.
Kate Winslet -- The Reader
She won for the wrong film that year, and her accent is terrible. The less said about this embarrassingly bad movie the better.
Just 4?? Come on, if you're gonna go there, you gotta commit!
I have around 15 Best Actress winners I still need to see, but the worst by far is A Touch of Class. That movie is dreadful and dated. They wouldn't nominate Julia Roberts for My Best Friend's Wedding or Meg Ryan for When Harry Met Sally... but they gave Glenda Jackson an Oscar for THAT?
I agree that The Reader is pretty bad. I tried to locate Blue Sky for years, and when I finally did, I wondered why I bothered. Of the older movies, I found The Country Girl hardest to get through out of sheer boredom. And I know others will disagree, but I really disliked Room.
It's poetic justice to see Meryl on this list. She's downright awful in Iron Lady and slightly less in Sophie's Choice.
Well, for best actors I do have a bigger list: Eddie Redmayne, Jean Dujardin, Colin Firth, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Art Carney, Gene Hackman, John Wayne, Cliff Robertson, José Ferrer, Laurence Olivier... some really overrated movies (and performances) and many overdue honors.
I rather replace Mcdormand with Julianne Moore in Still Alice, her oscar more like tribute rather winning because fantastic performance ( Cotillard or Pike should won that year ).
Sandy in Blind Side
Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8
Sally Field in Places in Heart
What Philip H. said
The Blind Side is really quite bad. To me, that's the worst picture containing a Best Actress-winning performance in recent memory by a very wide margin.
On Golden Pond certainly isn't a very good movie, and Hepburn arguably the weakest of the nominees that year? The Trip to Bountiful also is pretty painful to sit through. Walk the Line is your standard biopic. I like this exercise, Nathaniel, mostly because it calls attention to how much a great performance can give to a mediocre or bad movie.
Let's see from what I've seen so far...
1. Sandra Bullock-The Blind Side (should've gone to Charlotte Gainsbourg for Antichrist despite not being nominated or Gabourey Sidibe for Precious)
2. Kate Winslet-The Reader (An overwrought and overly-dramatic film made by the Oscar-bait equivalent to Michael Bay and should've gone to Michelle Williams for Wendy & Lucy despite not being nominated or Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married)
3. Jessica Tandy-Driving Miss Daisy (An overrated and awful piece of shit film about a cranky old white bitch. Should've gone to Michelle Pfeiffer for The Fabulous Baker Boys
4. Jessica Lange-Blue Sky (It's an OK film though it's not as great as people think it is as it should've gone to Winona Ryder for Little Women though I would've personally gone with Irene Jacob for Trois Couleurs: Rouge).
Ok. Thank you for the McDormand mention. However, Meryl Streep gives the best female performance ever put on screen in Sophie"s Choice. I loved the book and loved the adaptation. Yes Kline was miscast but I loved MacNichol as Stingo. Sophie's Choice is the movie that started my love affair with The Movies.
The Iron Lady probably tops this list, at least for recent years. I couldn’t stand Silver Linings Playbook, but I know that’s a minority view. I think Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is pretty much awful. As to more popular picks for this list - I didn’t mind The Reader, and I rather enjoyed Butterfield 8 (it’s not good, but it’s entertaining, in a campy way).
I cannot bring myself to watch The Blind Side or The Iron Bitch. I won't put myself through that. Life is too short.
Room
Still Alice
Silver Linings Playbook
Black Swan
The Blind Side
Million Dollar Baby
Monster
Monster's Ball
The Accused
Places in the Heart
Halle Berry - Monster's Ball (a terrible movie...enough said)
Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond (I tried hard to like this movie but it came off as two hours of nothingness for me - even TV movies with similar themes were better than this)
Liz Taylor - Butterfield 8 (another terrible movie)
Glenda - a touch of class (a cringe-worthy film and performance)
Grace Kelly - Country Girl (I couldn't get past the first hour and have since never completed watching this movie even though it was screened twice on TV here)
I can think of more for sure given time....but the aforementioned leapt into my mind in an instant.
Your criticisms of 3 Blboards of Missouri are so bogus. That film deservedly one everythimg except Oscar but US sensitivities coupdnt handle such a provocative films. Dislikeable sidekicks? That was the point of the film! Not rooted in America? Look at how the recent 2018 election was fought, we are a divided nation rooted in anger at injustice and practical limitations more than anything else.
McDormand assaulted two kids and was a mother disconnected to her two kids but there was still much to like about her. Beautiful performance.
The Blind Side is a fine sports movie. I admired its meditative pace and it was more self reflective of the whife savior complex than others give it credit for. I think the reverse is the problem: Is Sandra Bullock that great in it?
I suppose The Reader is by the numbers so I might pick that. Maybe The Heiress or Suspicion which is Hitchcock's weakest film as far as I know
Still sore about Erin Brockovich winning over Requiem for a Dream. Pure politics.
Sandra Bullock’s THE BLIND SIDE is the most egregious of Oscar errors in its most consistently infuriating category, Best Actress (subpar performance, terrible movie). Only a Lady Gaga/A STAR IS BORN win could be worse.
I wholeheartedly co-sign the four examples you've Listed, Nathaniel!
I hated BLACK SWAN, but especially Portman’s win over The Bening.
DRIVING MISS DAISY may not be perfect, and I adore Michelle Pfeiffer, but Jesica Tandy’s win is among my all-time favorites. (I believe she would’ve been undeniable for the win for the 1951 year had she been able to reprise Blanche Dubois for the screen.)
Jessica Lange in FRANCES over Meryl in SOPHIE’S CHOICE all day every day. Anthony Hopkins said it’s the best performance by an actress ever committed to film. I don’t necessarily agree, but it’s surely up there.
*sighs* I love the fact that La Streep has 3 Oscars, but I do not like either performance/film she won her 2 Best Actress wins. I stand by her win for Kramer (easily one of the top 10 best in Supporting Actress ever!), but I would've preferred her BA's be for Silkwood and Devil Wears Prada.
A lot of Streep hatred, but she still gets the last laugh!!
A sidebar to "bad movies" would be "unmemorable movies". I saw all of these but barely remember them. Not a good sign.
"Blue Sky"? I remember windblown hair and... that's all. Sorry, Ms. Lange.
"Places in the Heart" I do like you, Sally. I just don't recall this movie beyond rain and mud.
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" I mean, they stripped away the Scorcese and made a sitcom out of it.
"Women in Love" The homoerotic wrestling scene! But Glenda was in this, too?
Streep for Sophie is a bold choice, though I do think that performance is praised more often than it should be. Since we're talking overrated, I'll go Louise Fletcher, Ginger Rogers, Joanne Woodward (with apologies, since she's so great in other roles) and Gwenyth Paltrow. I understand a bit about how the wins happened, but the why will forever escape me.
Grace Kelly,Kate Winslet,Sandra Bullock,Meryl Streep.
Only read the headline and saw the picture thus far but, at worst mediocre (although I found it quite charming), doesn't constitute bad, so a well earned fudge you!
Why only 4? Well because I knew the response from the readers would be so voracious!
But also I needed to be clear in my distinction. There are definitely bad performances in bad films but these had to be examples of a special kind of variety.
And also I haven't seen Blue Sky or Butterfield 8 (and I'd like people to admit if they have!) so they were never going to make the list. But a film like The Blind Side wasn't going to make it... There's something weirdly compelling about that bizarre movie. But I understand the rage for it.
I'm about to say Luise Rainer in The Good Earth and you just said you didn't see Blue Sky or Butterfield 8 so I should just shut up. I hope you write about 2018 actresses, there are tons of good roles to write about.
Ryan Crowe, For the correct view on Tandy you proved yourself just dandy. Condragulations, you are the winner of this week's challenge.
I love it how Jasmine French can't be touched by this.
An unlikable multifaceted character, dominating the screen from beginning to end, aced by Queen Blanchett.
These are the performances Oscar deserves.
TANDY4EVA & FIELD4EVA (Y'all hoes making me work double time)
that in the year of Carol, Brooklyn and 45 years that nothing perf from Brie Larson in Room won... that's the worst! She's not even the best in her movie, that's Tremblay. She won basically because she was playing a victim, people felt good voting for the character. That gets my vote for worst best actress winner of all time. I see people mentioning The Reader, The Blind Side and The Iron Lady but I understand those as career wins.
Although Joanne Woodward would have gotten my vote that year, I really like A TOUCH OF CLASS and Glenda in it. The reactions of the fellow nominees when Glenda's name is read is one of my favorite award show moments ever. I wish we always got that honesty!
This list needs to begin and end with Mary Pickford in Coquette.
I echo everyone else who picked Sandra Bullock for the Blind Side.
Disagree with your opinion on 3 Billboards, which is fine. The internet really went hard on that movie. I enjoyed it and Frances' performance (though I was rooting for Saoirse in Lady Bird)
Totally random but very well written, Séan. You're so sweet and spankable.
The image of Thatcher turning into a vampire and devouring her cabinet will haunt me forever.
Probably get shouted down but I would have replaced McDormand in 3 Billboards with McDormand in Fargo. Fargo is such on overrated movie and I have never understood the love for it. I always suspected Siskel & Ebert were playing some sort of Emperor's New Clothes trick on the movie going public by praising the worst movie of the year so excessively that everyone jumped on the bandwagon not wanting to be the looked down upon for not "getting it".
I take all these as comments. This is an exercise or game. But let's not forget that many of these performances were actually pretty good. And, basically, if Academy members were to vote for Best Performance in a Good Movie the Will Stand the Test of Time... well... I'm sure in many cases we would end up with five pretty lame nominees.
Thanks for all your notes! I agree with all of them!!
Only four, do you say?
Kathy Bates in Misery
Jessica Tandy in Conducing Ms Daisy
Jessica Lange in Blue Sky
Charlize Theron in Monster
Other four:
Kate Winslet in The Reader (should had won for Revolutionary Road)
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Jennifer Lawrence in The movie that I even don't remember the title
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
For me last years 4 winners were some of the worst their respective categories have seen,Ham was the dish of 2017 and these 4 delivered variations of it.
McDormand is solid but too familiar and the film lets her play to heavily on her no bull persona instead of giving us a real grieving woman.
I don't know what Sam Rockwell was doing,he always had a tendency to go OTT but here he is so caricatured as to be a leftover from a Scream sequel
Janney is just to broad to be believable
Oldman comes out best of the 4 but he is prone to phony scenes and that make up which I felt was woeful.
Oh yes Room is so boring and the lead is not compelling how does Larson get such great gigs.
@Jon
Kathy Bates in Misery
Do you want a knuckle sandwich?
Luise Rainer The Great Ziegfeld
Ginger Rogers Kitty Foyle
Katharine Hepburn Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, On Golden Pond (so many great performances and she wins for those stinkers)
Elizabeth Taylor Butterfield 8 (but I can't hate a movie that contains the line "Mama face it I was the slut of all time! And I liked it!)
Jane Fonda Coming Home
Kate Winslet The Reader
Halle Barry Monster's Ball
@Jon
There's no way Misery can be called a good performance in a bad film. That film has lasted!
I haven't seen Monster in a long time but remember it's unstoppable ascent to it's one Oscar. I remember it's low-budget roughness but thought it was a good film. But the most heartening part of that was that Charlize didn't suffer the curse of an early Oscar and has been churning out great roles like Tully, even if she for some reason had to start in Fast and Furious 8. That was unbecoming of her.
And this is why I read TFE. While I come for the articles, I stay for the comments. You all are particularly hilarious today.
I need a T-Shirt with Ellen Burstyn's reaction shot. Perfectly summarizes my last decade.
Sophie's Choice does not deserve to be here and you should feel bad for including it. That's all!
Jessica Lange in FRANCES over Meryl in SOPHIE’S CHOICE all day every day. Anthony Hopkins said it’s the best performance by an actress ever committed to film. I don’t necessarily agree, but it’s surely up there.
***
Ryan--YES!!!! Absolutely agree. All Day. Every Day.
It's not about bad Performances, just bad movies, so I don't care with these choices.
I liked both of Meryl's BA winning movies. Yes, even TIL. Whatever.
I really don't like Misery
I saw again last year and Jesus Christ, what a terrible adaptation of Stephen King and not so good movie.
So, answering u all: Kathy Bates don't deserves that Oscar and the movie (IMO) is bad.
Oh thank you so much for that Glenda Jackson mention. I don't even care for her earlier Oscar winning movie either. This is definitely a case of a bad performance in a bad movie. A double whammy.
I mean I get that people didn't want to give Barbra another Oscar win, which she deserved, but it seems like the whisper campaign against her backfired and they gave the award to the worst performance of the bunch.
People have mentioned some other obvious stinkers like Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner and Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld.
There are so many borderline unwatchable movies from the early years, maybe more so than watchable ones. After the studio system broke down you got some better winners, but there's still a head scratcher or two thrown in.
I'll throw in Jodie Foster in The Accused even though I love her as an actress. This one felt like a TV movie to me.
Reese Witherspoon, Brie Larson, Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Lawrence were all just barely adequate in my opinion. Even Emma Stone just squeaked by on charm. Geez, looking at that sentence, is Jennifer Lawrence really a Best ACTRESS winner?!
Oh, and I hated Three Billboards a lot, but I guess Frances was okay in it.