20 Worst Best Picture Film Nominees Since 2010
13. Lion
Look, we were all incredibly moved by Lion's stunning final scene but that strong finish doesn't automatically make Lion a great film, or a worthy Best Picture nominee.
Lion has that amazing conclusion, is well-directed by Garth Davis and starts out strong but ultimately becomes a very uneven film, largely thanks to the fact that so much of it is the protagonist (Dev Patel) looking at Google Maps. Thanks to the lack of anything really happening during much of the second half, Lion never really comes together as a story.
It's also overly sentimental, filled with under-developed subplots and although the cast is mostly terrific, the film does also commit the crime of wasting Rooney Mara on a forgettable love interest.
Therefore, Lion really is average at best however much the ending moved you, and it was the weakest link in a pretty great Best Picture line-up.
Even though 2016 was a terrible year for films, the Best Picture line-up worked since the Academy basically gathered nearly all of the great awards-friendly movies of that year... except, that is, for Martin Scorsese's shattering religious epic, Silence. Had Lion been ditched and Silence been given the Best Picture nod it sorely deserved, that would've made this a rare Best Picture line-up with no truly aggravating inclusions.