30 Oscar losers that should have been Oscar winners

Kate Winslet losing to Helen Hunt – Best Actress (1998)

The Winner

Helen Hunt as Carol, a waitress and single mom in the rom-com As Good As It Gets. She is forced to wait on pretty much the most repulsive dude in history. She spends the whole movie telling him she doesn’t want to be with him. So he sets about to emotionally manipulate her into dating him. Spoiler, it works.

The Loser

Cinematic treasure Kate Winslet in the role that made her an icon. Rose was a wealthy, sheltered girl who fell in love with a poor boy. The only problem was that they were both passengers on a sinking ship.

Why It Was Wrong

I don’t get As Good As It Gets. Maybe it’s because I didn’t watch it until I was a self-actualized feminist. But Jack Nicholson’s character is so creepy and gross to me (though Jack Nicholson himself is a treasure – don’t get it twisted).

Helen Hunt does a good job in the movie. But essentially every character in that movie exists to support and serve Jack Nicholson. Though Carol is the lead female character, I don’t know if I agree that she should be in this category. The nature of her character is much more supporting. Especially in comparison with Titanic.

In Titanic, Rose and Jack are equals – in the sense that they are both treated as the main characters. Rose’s emotional arc is so much longer and stronger and better than Carol’s. And Kate Winslet in this role is just phenomenal. There’s a reason she took off, and it’s because she made Rose into a real person. She gave her both unimaginable strength and unimaginable vulnerability. And somehow, she did it while making us believe in the tragedy that was the heart of the movie.

I am not one to knock rom-com acting. I mean, I do think it is a feat that Helen Hunt convinced us that she could ever consider slimy-homophobic-Nicholson as a romantic option. And her nude drawing scene with Greg Kinnear 100% holds up to Titanic’s. But when it comes down to it, Kate Winslet had the harder job, and she did it better.