2004 Hit Film Ranked Among ‘Most Shocking Wins' in Best Picture Oscar History

For nearly 100 years, the Academy Awards have delivered plenty of unforgettable moments. Sometimes, the Oscar winners are predictable, but shockers do pop up from time to time. One particular win that came over two decades ago is still one of the most talked-about upsets. The 2004 movie Crash snagged the Best Picture win at the 78th Academy Awards, and it is still considered a controversial decision.

The Oscar nominees for Best Picture that year included:

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Crash
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Munich

Acting icon Jack Nicholson was the presenter for the Best Picture category that year. When he announced that Crash had won, his facial expression conveyed shock, and he could be seen mouthing "whoa." Many viewers at home felt the same way.

The BBC suggested that Crash winning the Best Picture Oscar was perhaps the "most controversial decision ever."

The favorite to win Best Picture that year was Brokeback Mountain, which starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Both Crash and Brokeback Mountain were about topics that could be divisive with moviegoers.

Brokeback Mountain told the complicated love story of two cowboys who fell in love while working in Wyoming in 1963.

Crash, on the other hand, focused on the complexity of racial tensions in Los Angeles, California. Several stories were woven together, and each had a race-related component at its center. The film starred an ensemble cast that included the likes of Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Thandiwe Newton, Brendan Fraser, and Tony Danza.

Even Bobby Moresco, a co-writer and producer of Crash, "just assumed" the Oscar for Best Picture would go to Brokeback Mountain, he admitted to the BBC.

In 2023, Variety did a roundup of what they considered to be the worst Oscar winners. Crash landed in the second spot.

The top spot on Variety's list went to Will Smith for winning Best Actor for King Richard in 2022. Smith winning wouldn't have been particularly controversial on its own. However, the win came on the same night that he slapped presenter Chris Rock on stage.

A recent list of the 10 worst Best Picture Oscar winners created by USA Today also put Crash in the second spot. The top honor on their list went to the 1929 movie The Broadway Melody.

Of Crash, the outlet noted that the cast was "amazing." However, the writer felt that the movie "fumbles a bunch of chances to deal with racism and multiculturalism in a real way."

In addition, Rotten Tomatoes ranked all 98 previous Best Movie Oscar Winners from best to worst. On their list, Crash managed to avoid being in the very last spot. Interestingly, The Broadway Melody earned that honor on that list, as well.

Crash was ranked 90 out of 98 winners on Rotten Tomatoes. "A raw and unsettling morality piece on modern angst and urban disconnect," was the consensus of the critics.

The criticism over the Crash win also came from movie buffs. In a Reddit post with over 3,000 comments on the worst Oscars win, Crash popped up a handful of times.

One Reddit user quipped, "Crash was an R rated after school special."

Another Reddit user noted they were in film school when the movie was released. "I thought there was something wrong with me that I couldn't understand how it was considered such a good movie," they admitted.

A commenter in a similar Reddit thread shared, "It's very important to me that people understand that not only was Brokeback Mountain a much better movie than Crash, but literally every other movie in that category was too."

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 5:34 PM.