Among the most enduring awards bodies in the world, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is notable for a lot of reasons. Not only has the Academy remained one of the most prevalent tastemakers of the cinematic arts, but the organization has become a sort of culturally mythic being of its own. Films that win big at the yearly Oscars are, in certain terms, the most important films of any given year. As such, winning such an honorable distinction is something that almost everyone in the film industry hopes to accomplish at one point in their career. Even more so, this brings people to creating works of art that are, shall we say, programmed to win the favor of notable awards bodies. These works are not without merit, but sort of plainly function as a means to an end: to win awards and, more importantly, to win an Oscar.
Colloquially, we know these films as those within the demarcation of "Oscar bait": a select body of biopics, dramas, and self-important film fare that share the goal of currying favor with the Academy. We all know what these movies look like. Some can spot them from a mile away. These select films are released each and every year, and every year we all scoff at the idea of yet another "transformative" biographical drama getting nominated for Oscar contention — but, some don't make it that far. What we rarely remember are the Oscar bait films that never even make it to the seats of the Dolby Theater and are never able to enter contention for an Oscar. These forgotten films are among the most cloying, most self-indulgent, and most unexciting cinematic pursuits of their given years and even the crotchety old Academy saw through their ploy's to get a golden statue. These are the modern Oscar bait films that you've already forgotten about.
10 Snowden
First up is a current events (at least at time) biographical drama that was attempting to cash in on how huge the Edward Snowden story was at the time. Hire the most politically minded director in America in Oliver Stone, and cast the hottest young actor on the market in Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and you have textbook Oscar bait. While the story of Edward Snowden's rise from unknown NSA agent and civil servant to ultra-important whistleblower is one worth telling, recency bias might have created a film that was a little too willing to sand off the rougher edges of the story or truly dive in deep. What we were left with was a weird, ultimately ineffectual biopic that neither enticed nor excited audiences or critics. Gordon-Levitt's performance as Snowden was incredibly odd, with him doing an evocation of Snowden's voice that made him sound more like a third-rate Batman than any real person. All in all, Snowden fell flat on it's face and didn't manage to make even the shortlist for the Oscars in 2016.
9 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Even more textbook Oscar bait than the previous entry is a film that attempts to center a story around a tragedy, mining that real world trauma for silver screen pathos. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of the most egregious examples of that process, as it centers its story around a young autistic boy and his mother grappling with the loss of their father/husband in the wake of 9/11. The boy cannot make sense of this loss, and goes on a wild goose chase attempting to solve the mystery of how such an unthinkable tragedy could take place. If that doesn't sound like classic pandering, we don't know what does. The film's precociousness, modeled to be one of its strengths, is its ultimate downfall, rendering so much of the plotting around a real-world tragedy to ring false and exploitative. All of its emotive posturing left audiences and Oscar voters feeling like they were being sold something that didn't function on its own merits.
8 J. Edgar
Another bit of transformative biographical drama awards bait, Clint Eastwood's 2011 film J. Edgar landed so incredibly flat on its face upon release. Not only was it a toothless, kowtowing portrayal of J. Edgar Hoover, but the star at the center of the film doing this portrayal in Leonardo DiCaprio was debasing himself for a go at his coveted Oscar. The film follows a nonlinear narrative surrounding Hoover as he's founding the Federal Bureau of Investigation and then, later, defending its existence against the Senate Appropriations Committee. If that doesn't sound like a riot of a good time, then you'd be of the opinion of most. What audiences and awards voters got with J. Edgar was a turgid, ham-fisted biopic that made the incorrect assumption that the bureaucrat who founded one of the most powerful government agencies in history was more interesting than said agency. DiCaprio may have gotten some recognition for his performance, but not from the Oscars.
7 Serena
Attempting to capitalize on the hotstreak of two recent breakout stars (although Bradley Cooper had been around a bit longer), Serena was a bit of Oscar bait that paired the aforementioned Cooper with hot on the trail and previous Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence. This historical drama, based on a novel of the same name, was a culmination of huge names and talents, but resulted in one of the biggest Oscar bait flops in recent memory. The film was panned across the board upon release, with critics and audiences alike wondering how these two actors they all loved could have put in such embarrassing and boring performances. Serena was a heavy-handed attempt at raising the cache of all it's above the line talent, but resulted in a movie that most people probably never even heard of and those who had have long forgotten.
6 The Son
The return of a previous Oscar-winning talent in the form of playwright and director Florian Zeller, The Son was meant to accelerate his career in Hollywood and earn him some more hardware from the Academy. Based on his play of the same name and functioning as a prequel to his 2020 film The Father, The Son had so much baggage going into its awards campaign. Big, showy performances from the likes of Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, and Vanessa Kirby couldn't cover up the fact that early buzz for the film was decidedly negative. Once it came time for the campaign to kick into high gear, it was clear that was a fool's errand. The Son was an overwrought, baseless, and poorly-conceived bit of melodrama that angered critics more than it intrigued them. Any potential it had at getting awards recognition from any awards body was quickly dashed as scenes from it started becoming the object of ridicule online.
5 Empire of Light
Previous mutli-Oscar winning director Sam Mendes made another move at a coveted golden statue in 2022 with his film Empire of Light, a move that resulted in no nominations for his contributions and ridicule from a lot of critics and audiences. Why is that? Simply put, Empire of Light is as self-indulgent and unharmonious as any other failed Oscar bait film, but this film tried to have its cake and eat it too. Not only do Mendes and Co attempt to create a love letter to cinema amidst the turgid melodrama of its mentally ill, middle-aged main character, but they also venture to tackle pressing issues like racism in America, Thatcherism, and the destructive motions of capitalism. It's a sickly mix of things that if given proper treatment would result in better films, but in their resulting form in Empire of Light feel like nothing but pawns at the mercy of a creative desperate for attention.
4 The Monuments Men
Sold almost entirely on the all-star cast of talent above and below the line, 2014's The Monuments Men landed with a thud upon release due to its under baked screenplay and slapdash utilization of said cast. A film starring names like Matt Damon, George Clooney, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett should never manage to be forgettable, but The Monuments Men managed that impossible feat. With Clooney also taking up directing duties, one has to wonder what went wrong along the way to create something with such a huge presence, but absolutely no shadow. Not only did The Monuments Men fail to excite Oscar voters, but it bombed at the box office and became one of the big laughing stocks of its release year. The worst part of this equation is that there are still WWII stories that are worth telling, but ones like this sully the potential of all other creative endeavors like it.
3 Collateral Beauty
One of Will Smith's many Oscar plays following his failure to win one for 2001's Ali, Collateral Beauty is among the most earth-shatteringly transparent in its pursuit to make Smith a "serious" actor. The film is preachy, exploitative, and contrived beyond belief, so much so that it left critics and audiences confused as to how they should feel by the end of it. With so many messages and points of view flowing through its overwrought script, the film fails to really offer definitive conclusions or ideas and opts to just say flatly that life is full of tragedy and that's okay. Smith is floundering without a purpose throughout most of the film, and it results in making Collateral Beauty all the more empty-headed and plainly exploitative. Not only did Smith not receive even an Oscar nomination for this role, it was shut out of the awards ceremony that year entirely, only referenced as a joke in passing by attendees and critics who still couldn't believe it was a film they were meant to take seriously.
2 Alexander
The film Colin Farrell himself believed would win him his Oscar, 2004's Alexander is famously one of the most critically reviled prestige pictures of the 21st Century. So much has been written about what a colossal failure this one was that it almost feels mean to relay its humongous failure yet again. Oliver Stone, once again, ventured to create a film that would excite and entice audiences as not just filmgoers, but as consumers of historical fact: which would ultimately be his downfall. As Stone was used to throughout his career, his perspective on history was decidedly different from those who dedicated their lives to studying the topics he was summarizing for entertainment consumption. As such, the film was lambasted for its odd portrayals, perspectives, and all around inaccuracies. Above all else, though, people just found the film dreadfully boring and overworked. It is one of the biggest commercial failures of the modern era, barely grossing over its monstrous $175 million budget and never getting close to the Oscars stage.
1 Cats
One of the biggest failures of the last few years was Tom Hooper's adaptation of the Broadway smash hit Cats. We all remember the humdrum about the so-called "butthole cut" and the swathes of people who went out for repeat viewings of the travesty that was the released film itself. What many fail to consider, however, between the garish CGI cats and bizarre camerawork, is that Cats was intended to play big at the Oscars that year. This was the triumphant return of the director who made Les Misérables, a film that won three Oscars, including one for Anne Hathaway. Cats was meant to be prestige and critically important: it was meant to be seen as a serious artistic play. Unfortunately, all anyone ended up remembering was the ugly effects, a report about a potentially explicit cut of the film, and a few jokes at the expense of the swathes of talent that were in the film.