16 Biggest Oscar Upsets Of The 21st Century

The Rightful Winner: Memento Or The Royal Tenenbaums

Reading like a who's who of posh British actors, Gosford Park is like an unaired extended episode of Downton Abbey with a murderer on the loose which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows that the writer, Julian Fellowes, is responsible for both.

Of course, with the calibre of performers including Dame Maggie Smith, Charles Dance, Helen Mirren and Derek Jacobi amongst many other seasoned thespians there isn't much to fault in terms of the execution. The issue emerges when a glorified game of Cluedo wins the Best Original Screenplay Award ahead of masterful narratives like Jonathan Nolan's Memento and Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums.

At least the latter two took risks with storytelling and gave audiences something that they hadn't seen before a hundred times. This is an example of the types of choices made by the Academy that frustrate regular viewers to no end. Why put your vote behind something a bit more challenging when you can play it safe and go with the stuffy period drama.

It's a tough call to decide on the ultimate rightful winner between the quirky story of a dysfunctional family and a gripping tale of memory loss and murder but suffice to say, either one deserved the award more than Whodunnit: English Country Manor Edition.