Every Best Picture Oscar Movie Winner Of 21st Century Ranked Worst To Best

17. Birdman (Or, The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

What should have won: Boyhood. 

It's difficult not to admire Birdman, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s self-indulgent but thrilling tale of a faded actor (Michael Keaton, in the autobiographical role of a lifetime) who dreams of a comeback by directing and starring in an instantly doomed Broadway production. 

It's excessive and overblown, begging you to accept its brilliance with every fine edit of its one-shot execution, but it's also kinda wonderful, light-footed, amusing, and anchored throughout by a trio of remarkable performances (Ed Norton and Emma Stone swooping in to keep Keaton company and match his bitter desperation scene-for-scene). 

Birdman isn't for everyone and remains a divisive picture, but for pure gusto and unapologetic indulgence, it's hard not to respect Iñárritu’s vision, flaws, and ambiguity, gimmicks and all. It's rare to find a Best Picture winner this relentlessly eccentric and loving every second of its own existence, regardless of where its audience stands. 

Though, let’s be honest: ten years later, and the biggest travesty here is that the Academy let Birdman beat Richard Linklater’s timeless modern classic Boyhood.