10 Most Oscar Bait Movies From The 2015 Awards Season

2. Cake

What's Oscar Bait About The Idea? Jennifer Aniston loses weight in a film about depression. It's so obvious, so lazy and so cynical an awards attempt it's a relief to see it miles away from the Oscar nominations. Was It Any Good? Aniston probably took the part expecting a career resurgence - she'd no longer be "Rachel from friends" or "Brad Pitt's ex", but Jennifer Aniston, Serious Thespian. On her own merits, she's alright (and certainly looks haggard convincingly), but the film she's in is so unambitious and safe, obviously attempting to pepper it's dark theme with humour to appear smart, that it's hard to get enthused about. The fact it's got no recognition shows just how badly it fails to escape its bait-y origins. Was There Any Major Campaigning? To be fair to Cake, it's only real awards push was Aniston's performance, which was only mentioned by those ceremonies with less integrity than the Oscars (shout out to the Golden Globes). In a broader sense, it doesn't appear to have had the desired effect of changing Aniston's career direction. Will It Get Anything For Its Efforts? Cake wasn't even nominated at the Oscars, with its most prestigious trophy coming from People Magazine Awards. Probably fair.