MovieChat Forums > L.A. Confidential (1997) Discussion > Anybody else think Kim Bassinger didn't ...

Anybody else think Kim Bassinger didn't deserve the Oscar?


After watching it 5 or 6 times I still don't think she was that great or fantastic. She wasn't horrible. But I didn't think she did anything amazing in it. I personally think it should've gone to Gloria Stuart in Titanic. This seems like the stupid old we're sorry we snubbed you Oscar. Like Jack Palance winning for City Slickers or Tommy Lee Jones winning for the Fugitive. Of course most people already know Gloria Stuart was the best performance that year.

When the Story Lady tells us about the naughty boy who blew up his goldfish.

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She got that Oscar for two reasons looking like Veronica Lake and taking two backhands across the face by Bud.

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I swear i just finished watching this movie and thought the same thing ! She was ok, but in the script for her character and her acting was nothing oscar worthy, really just normal scenes. I waited and thought maybe something by the end of the movie will come where she would nailed it but nothing ! Really only normal scenes ! And I thought wtf academy

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I can't find a single memorable moment in her performance. I love that she won but I can't appreciate anything about the performance, I think it might have to do something with the era the movie is set in. I really don't know.

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I don't think she deserved the Oscar either. Don't get me wrong she wasn't bad or anything, but it's a completely forgettable performance and role.

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She got the Oscar because her then-hubby Alec Baldwin called in a lot of favors. She was TERRIBLE in her role and looked nothing like Veronica Lake.

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Disagree. Was awesome

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http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/02/05/what-the-hell-happened-to-kim-basinger/

She’s been a Bond girl, Batman’s girlfriend and a corpse in a Tom Petty video. Most recently, she played Zac Effron’s mom. What the hell happened? The easy answer is that Kim Basinger was a sex symbol who got old. But the story of Basinger’s career is far more interesting than the easy answer would lead you to believe.


http://lebeauleblog.com/2012/02/05/what-the-hell-happened-to-kim-basinger/6/

That could have been the end of the story. But Hollywood loves a comeback and Basinger was primed and ready for one. In 1997, Basinger had a hell of a comeback in Curtis Hanson’s gritty film noir, LA Confidential.

It was the role Basinger was born for. She played a glamorous, sexy femme fatale. But with enough vulnerability to win a slew of awards including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Despite the overwhelming success of LA Confidential, Basinger didn’t jump right back into starring roles. She didn’t release another movie for three years. In 2000, she starred in two box office turkeys, I Dreamed of Africa and the supernatural thriller, Bless the Child. Both received bad reviews.

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I'm afraid this is one of the best examples of how Oscars are rigged sometimes. One way you can figure it out is by looking at all those critics association awards that are handed out each year (Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago...). Kim Basinger was hardly mentioned in any of them, and here she is, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe (not BAFTA, though). Kevin Spacey had much more nominations for his role in L.A. Confidential than her and he didn't even get an Oscar nom.

Let's look how some of the most famous critics association voted that year in the supporting actress category:

Boston Society of Film Critics
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter (she wasn't even nominated for Academy Award)
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Alison Elliott - The Wings of a Dove

Chicago Film Critics Association
Debbi Morgan - Eve's Bayou (she wasn't even nominated for Academy Award)
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Joan Allen - The Ice Storm
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter

Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Gloria Stuart - Titanic

National Society of Film Critics
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Sarah Polley - The Sweet Hereafter
Nathalie Richard - Irma Vep

New York Film Critics Circle Award
Joan Cusack - In & Out

Online Film & Television Association
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Christina Ricci - The Ice Storm
Gloria Stuart - Titanic

Online Film Critics Society Award
Gloria Stuart - Titanic
Julianne Moore - The Myths of Fingerprints
Joan Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank

San Diego Film Critics Society Award
Jurnee Smollett-Bell - Eve's Bayou (she wasn't nominated for Academy Award)

Satellite Awards
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights
Minnie Driver - Good Will Hunting
Sigourney Weaver - The Ice Storm
Ashley Judd - Kiss the Girls
Debbi Morgan - Eve's Bayou

Society of Texas Film Critics
Joan Cusack - In & Out
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential

Southeastern Film Critics Association
Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential
Julianne Moore - Boogie Nights


So, if we are to judge by critics association - Kim Basinger did not deserve to win because that year there were far better supporting actress roles than hers. Although I personally think she's great in it, I would give the Oscar either to Julianne Moore or Gloria Stuart... Hell, even Joan Cusack who was great in "In & Out".

L.A. Confidential is one of my favorite movies of all times and I love every character and every actor and actress in it - but if Kim Basinger didn't won an Oscar, I would've survived.

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No because Juliane Moore should have won for "Boogie Nights". She won because the movie was great and she was the only woman in it they could give an award to. I mean, if anyone should have gotten something for this movie it should have been Russell Crowe.

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It seems odd to call this a make-up Oscar for Kim, as she had never been nominated before. And "Titanic" was largely a director's movie, with the spectacle overwhelming Stuart's performance. That might be why she lost the award.

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To this day it puzzles me how they decide who to give out Oscars to. This is a good film, and she is good in it, but she didn't give the best performance of any actress that year. The Oscars are so silly.

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