15 Oscar-Baiting Films That Hilariously Failed To Win

5. J. Edgar

Clint Eastwood is no stranger to Academy Award recognition as a director, and in recent years it seems that pretty much anything he makes is touted as Oscar bait. This has never been truer than with his J. Edgar Hoover biopic, J. Edgar, starring long-time Oscar-snubee Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. Few will argue against DiCaprio's solid effort in the lead role, but this is simply too conventional and generic a biopic to be anything more than watchably bland. Skirting around the seedier aspects of Hoover's life, Eastwood plays it far too safe, and frankly, the end result is just pretty boring above all else. The star-worshipping Golden Globes gave DiCaprio a generous Best Actor nomination, and SAG also recognised his efforts with a nod, but the movie didn't garner a single Oscar nomination, and given how much better the movie could have been, rightly so.