10 Best Picture Winners Everyone Is Far Too Harsh On

The Artist won Best Picture at the 84th Academy Awards and beat... well, everything in the worst Best Picture line-up ever. Defined by a group of nine films (one of which got 45% on Rotten Tomatoes) that no-one remembers, this Oscar ceremony was one of mediocrity. The truth is, since the two best films of 2011 - A Separation and Drive - were ignored, there's no way this line-up can be seen as an actual representation of 2011's best films.

When you consider it that way, The Artist should not be attacked simply because it felt like the appropriate choice out of all those forgettable movies. What were they meant to pick?

The Artist is definitely overrated, but it's not as bad as its detractors say it is. It's true that it is fairly slight and little on the dull side, but people have irritatingly ignored its biggest issue: it's depressing. All the people that were calling it such a joyous experience evidently didn't see how dark a film it truly is and as Jean Dujardin's George Valentin hits rock bottom, the film becomes unpleasant to watch.

Still, that's a sign that the film was telling an emotional story and did make us care about what happened to its characters. It's well-performed, the visual story-telling is very clever and overall it's a solid drama film, so the hate is definitely excessive.