Oscars 1999: 2 Best Pictures Nominees That Didn’t Deserve It (& 8 Better Replacements)

The 1999 Academy Awards honored the films from the previous year in 1998. In 1998 films like, Ever After, Practical Magic, and Rounders, graced the big screen and became classics, though they weren’t nominated for the coveted Best Picture award at the 71st Academy Awards. Films nominated in that category that year were: Shakespeare in Love, Life is Beautiful, Elizabeth, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, and Elizabeth. 

A couple of films on that list have gone on to become some of the most iconic of the generation, but a few others maybe shouldn’t have received such high praise upon their release and there are a handful of others that could have easily replaced them.

10 Should Have Been: A Perfect Murder

A Perfect Murder is a thriller loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, and stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, and Viggo Mortenson. The film received mostly good reviews and did very well at the box office, yet was no recognized at all by any of the major award ceremonies the year it was eligible, including the Academy Awards, despite having a cast whom the Academy voters usually love to nominate.

9 Should Have Been: Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black is Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins’ second film together. This romantic fantasy feature film is loosely based on 1934’s Death Takes a Holiday. The film opened with a lot of praise for the performances and the storyline, but was widely criticized for having a three hour runtime, with prominent critics like Roger Ebert claiming the film moved too slowly. Had the filmmaker adjusted the runtime, this film would have been a shoe in for the Academy Awards in 1999.

8 Should Have Been: City Of Angels

This is another romantic fantasy feature film snubbed the Academy for their 71st award ceremony. City of Angels stars Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage. Cage’s character, Seth is an angel who falls in love with Ryan’s character, Dr. Maggie Rice, and wishes to be human so he can be with her.

The film was a great box office success and the performances from Ryan and Cage were given positive reviews from critics, but the film was completely left out of most award shows that season.

7 Nominated: Elizabeth

The 1999 award season seemed to flock to films about the Elizabeathan era with films like Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth, which were both nominated for the Best Picture category by the Academy in 1999. These historical dramatic fictions were a favorite among Academy voters and movie-goers and were clearly a trend for the times. Because of this trend in the late 90’s, some wonder how successful these films would have been with the Academy had they been made today.

6 Should Have Been: What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come is a feature film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robin Williams, both Academy favorites.

The film was a success at the box office, but received mixed critical reviews, which may have been the reason it was honored more during award season, despite Roger Ebert’s praise. The film was nominated for two awards that year and won for Best Visual Effects.

5 Should Have Been: The Truman Show

The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey as Truman, a man whose entire life is documented for others to see, but he is unaware too his audience. The film examines reality television, which was just becoming popular at the time of the film’s release and other important themes about entertainment and society. The film received nominations in the Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor categories, but both Jim Carrey and the film as a whole were snubbed in the other major categories.

4 Nominated: The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line was director Terrence Malick’s return to filmmaking after a twenty-year absence. The film is the second screen adaptation of the novel with the same name and stars  Adrien Brody, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, John C. Reilly and John Travolta.

The film gained a lot of critical praise, but as Andrew Johnston of Time Out New York noted, the film is a bit confusing and long, and some wonder if it really earned this nomination, or if it was given so much praise due to Malick’s big return.

3 Should Have Been: Beloved

Beloved, starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover is based on the Toni Morrison novel by the same name and is a thriller about a slave during the Civil War having supernatural experiences. The film did poorly at the box office, but was praised by critics both for the performances and the execution of the film as whole. The Academy rarely votes based on box office numbers, so the reason this film was left out of most categories in the year it was eligible, is confusing to the critics who loved it.

2 Should Have Been: Pleasantville

The fact that this film starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon wasn’t nominated for Best Cinematography or Best Picture is pretty shocking to fans today, especially considering the advances this film made to tell a story both in black and white and in color. The film was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score, but was not recognized in any of the major categories.

1 Should Have Been: The Horse Whisperer

The Golden Globe awards recognized this film, but the Academy Awards left it out of their nominations, which is pretty rare, especially for a Robert Redford film campaigning during award season. The film did receive mixed reviews from critics, which could have been a contributing factor in its lack of nominations, but the fact that Robert Redford didn’t get any praise from Academy voters for this movie was shocking to most fans.

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