20 Worst Best Picture Film Nominees Since 2010
9. Bohemian Rhapsody
There have been many mediocre Oscar-Bait biopics over the years, but Bohemian Rhapsody is like all the flaws of such films rolled into one.
An overly broad scope that leads to an unfocused, badly-edited narrative? Check. Historical inaccuracy? Check. A PG-13 approach to adult subject matter? Check. A by-the-numbers screenplay that plays like an extended hits montage? Check. Little to no cinematic verve? Check. A great performance that overshadows everything else? Triple check.
Bohemian Rhapsody has it all.
It's not the worst thing ever. The movie can be entertaining, Rami Malek is brilliant and the ending is glorious, but it remains one of the most inexplicable Best Picture nominations of recent times - and that's saying a lot.
Not only did this movie get mixed reviews, but it was mired in controversy over its historical inaccuracies, downplaying of Freddy Mercury's sexuality and the conduct of original director Bryan Singer (who was fired and replaced by Dexter Fletcher).
Therefore, this nomination was (unsurprisingly) a credibility-damaging moment for the Oscars that seems even stranger when you consider that 2019's Rocketman, a truly great musical biopic that played like the anti-Bohemian Rhapsody and avoided pretty much all of this movie's mistakes got snubbed by the Academy.