8 Terrible Films That Somehow Won The Best Picture Oscar

3. Crash

Year: 2005 Fellow Nominees: Brokeback Mountain; Good Night, and Good Luck; Capote; Munich Presenter Jack Nicholson's face says it all: what the f*ck? One of the biggest upsets and oversights in Academy Awards history happened in 2005, when Paul Haggis' insufferable, "racism is bad" movie, Crash, beat out Ang Lee's timeless, transcendent, aching masterpiece, Brokeback Mountain (amongst others: people tend to forget that Steven Spielberg's near-masterpiece, Munich, was also nominated in 2005). In what seems to be becoming a trend here, Haggis lost out on the Best Director prize to Lee, continuing a throughline of pictures which are deemed Best Picture worthy but not, seemingly, for how they are actually directed. (This plays into the Academy's hands as it means they can play it relatively safe with their Best Picture choice, safe in the knowledge that they will be honouring a more critically lauded director as a kind of balancing act). Nominated for six awards on the night, Crash won three, with Haggis and co-writer, Robert Moresco, winning for best Original Screenplay, and Hughes Winborne winning for his editing. Haggis, a likeable presence despite the vapidity of his film here, ended the night with two actual Oscars for himself (he co-produced, meaning he gets a gong for Best Picture, too), but it could've been much worse. It could've been three.