Ten Tremendous Oscar Bait Failures

Seven Pounds (2008)

Domestic Total Gross: $69,951,824
Production Budget: $55 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 27%

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pPwqgBN2vs[/embedyt]

Will Smith is an IRS agent who makes it his mission to change the lives of seven strangers, one of whom he strikes an unexpected romance with (Rosario Dawson). Critics and Academy voters did not fall for this tearjerker’s sappy, Lifetime movie-worthy themes and many say the twist ending only makes it more ridiculous than inspiring. Some might credit this is as the beginning of Smith’s desperation phase – and we all know what that led to (*cough* After Earth *cough*).

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Jason Wiese

Jason has been writing since his hands developed the strength to pick up a crayon. Growing up with the original dream to be a filmmaker, by the end of his high school career, he instead decided to pursue the next best thing: film criticism. Jason graduated from Lindenwood University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. He currently writes movie reviews for Review St. Louis, Newstime and the Lincoln County Journal - as well as product descriptions for etrailer.com.

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View Comments

Charles says:

February 21, 2017 at 2:08 pm

I would argue against this being included in the list, not for any actual quality, but because Lawrence did get the Best Actress nomination. So in that sense, the Oscar-baiting did not fail.
- Jason Wiese says:
  
  February 23, 2017 at 10:12 pm
  
  True, but considering Russell had been on a roll getting multiple nominations and a few wins for several films in a row, I imagine Lawrence's sole Best Actress nomination must have been a sore and unexpected disappointment for him. That is why I considered "Joy" a failure