Every Best Actor Oscar Movie Winner Of The 21st Century Ranked

22. Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Who should have won: Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born.

Bohemian Rhapsody gets Freddie Mercury's story almost offensively wrong, and does so with the blandest execution imaginable. Inauthentic and unchallenging, the biopic's many flaws are emphasised by the central performance of Rami Malek.

Great as he may be in Mr. Robot, Malek's portrayal of Mercury is the very definition of treacly Oscar-bait, complete with a great wardrobe, sloppy vocal dubbing, and not nearly enough charisma to capture the essence of the man he's bringing to life.

Malek does a semi-decent job in the drama's quieter moments, but there's too few of them to make an impact. It's a typically exuberant performance with no subtly or nuance, big and crowd-pleasing and clearly only scooping Best Actor (beating a transcendently brilliant Bradley Cooper) because it's based on a beloved celebrity.