This is, in my opinion, one of the worst years ever in the history of this category. Only one of the performances here I truly liked, and three of them I utterly hated. Basinger, Stuart and Cusack could, in my opinion, all have been ditched to make way for the Ricci/Allen/Weaver trifecta from "The Ice Storm", which was a veritable acting coup.

The nominees for this year were:
Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential
Joan Cusack in In & Out
Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting
Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights
Gloria Stuart in Titanic

My Ranking:

1. Driver - All of these actresses had relatively underwritten character, and I think Driver did the most interesting things with hers, adding gorgeous shades in what is basically a stock "girlfriend" role. She's charming and she glows, which is more than can be said for the other four women.

2. Moore - I think the praise for this performance came from the contrast and nature of the film and role itself, rather than for Moore's rather boring, uninspired performance. Heather Graham did far more interesting things with a far more thinly sketched role in the same film.

3. Stuart - Stuart's Old Rose has absolutely nothing in common with Winslet's portrayal of the Young Rose, and Gloria keeps on mistaking staring wistfully into middle distance for real acting. Cheesy and blase.

4. Cusack - A curiously offensive little film containing an aurally offensive performance by Cusack. She's shrill and the perf is over-the-top and ugly. It doesn't help matters that the director seems to be purposefully cruel to her character, making her a wailing, self-destructive, smeared-makeup gorgon even as her longtime relationship is shattered.

5. Basinger - Not only is she incapable of doing anything interesting to a line, she's also incapable of projecting emotion, of portraying genuine emotional conflict as she is pulled between two men, or of indeed doing anything at all. The most wasteful, useless win in the history of this category.

My Personal Ballot:
Definitely the women from "The Ice Storm" and probably Driver... I don't know who else.

Yeah the Academy REALLY, REALLY screwed this category up.

My personal nominees are:

1) Debbi Morgan --- "Eve's Bayou" (A brilliant, haunting performance; she is absolutely mesmerizing in this)

2) Sigourney Weaver --- "The Ice Storm"

3) Joan Allen --- "The Ice Storm" (she could go lead or supporting)

4) Christina Ricci --- "The Ice Storm"

5) Julianne Moore --- "Boogie Nights" OR Kim Basinger OR Joan Cusack

Honorable mention goes to Lynn Whitfield in "Eve's Bayou" (she could be lead or supporting)

Anyway, here's my Academy ranking:

1) Moore
2) Cusack
3) Basinger
4) Stuart
5) Driver

The Gloria Stuart and Minnie Driver nominations are just awful. I really hate both of those performances.

1) Moore
2) Basinger
3) Cusack
4) Driver

5) Stuart- So cutesy. So phoney. (I will admit feeling slightly bad about picking on a very senior citizen.)

Would replace the bottom two with Joan Allen and Sigourney Weaver from "The Ice Storm".

Very good year despite some awful snubs.

I really don't mind Kim's win anywhere because her performance has grown on me, but my winners will always be the hilarious Joan Cusack ("**** Barbra Streisand!")

I agree that Sigourney Weaver and Debbie Morgan were snubbed.

#1. Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights
-Out of her nominations (although you could make a case for "Far From Heaven"), I think this is the only one where she was the best in her category.

#2. Joan Cusack, In & Out
-I have always been one of the people who questioned her nomination for "Working Girl", but I support her nomination here as the hilarious fiancee of Kevin Kline. The movie was solid and very funny but it was Joan Cusack that made the movie. One of the funniest performances of the past 20 years, easily.

#3. Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential
-Her performance has grown on me as well, but I still have qualms with it. She has some nice moments but has others that left little to be desired. I think that if the role had been a tad bigger and also had more power in it then a win would've actually been deserving.

#4. Gloria Stuart, Titanic
-A very infamous performance that has a decent amount of fans but then has a very passionate group of people who find the nomination horrible. I think that she was solid in the movie and while I don't object to her nomination (which I think was more based on the "Titanic" phenomenon and also a combination of old age and a comeback of sorts), I wouldn't have personally nominated her. It was nice performance but that was it.

#5. Minnie Driver, Good Will Hunting
-I have never been the biggest fan of this movie (in fact, aside from Robin Williams, I wouldn't even nominate anything else from the movie), and that goes for Driver's work as well. It has been a while since I've seen the movie, but on my first viewing, I was underwhelmed by everyone but Williams. I will give the film another chance soon but I haven't changed my opinions after two viewings, same goes for Driver's performance.

Weak lineup.

01. Cusack
02. Basinger
03. Driver
04. Moore
05. Stuart


My ballot:

01. Alison Elliott, The Wings of the Dove
02. Cameron Diaz, My Best Friend's Wedding
03. Heather Graham, Boogie Nights
04. Christina Ricci, The Ice Storm
05. Stacey Edwards, In the Company of Men

I wholeheartedly agree that the best supporting performance of this year was terribly snubbed by the Academy. Debbi Morgan's performance in Eve's Bayou was simply outstanding. One of the worst snubs ever commited by the Academy. It still bothers me greatly to this day.

Based on the nominees the Academy rolled out this particular year, my rank:

1. Julianne Moore
2. Joan Cusack
3. Minnie Driver
4. Kim Basinger
5. Gloria Stuart

1. Joan Cusack
2. Julianne Moore

3. Kim Basinger
4. Minnie Driver

5. Gloria Stuart

Cusack & Moore can easily switch. These ladies are the only deserving of the lot!

Basinger & Driver can too...

Stuart...egads!!! Was she nominated for being ancient or what?

quote:

My ballot:

01. Alison Elliott, The Wings of the Dove

Word. She was fantastic as Millie.

01. Joan Cusack
02. Minnie Driver
03. Julianne Moore
04. Gloria Stuart
05. Kim Basinger

None of these performances were anything to write home to mother about.

My Ballot:

01. Joan Allen "The Ice Storm"
02. Debbie Morgan "Eve's Bayou"
03. Christina Ricci "The Ice Storm"
04. Sigourney Weaver "The Ice Storm"
05. Joan Cusack "In and Out"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Troy,

I hated Basinger's win. She did N-O-T-H-I-N-G except look amazing. For such a good film, this is such an awful representation of it's showing on Oscar night.

I don't remember Cusack being so uproariously hilarious. She had one good line and that was pretty much it. It would've been a hoot to have Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding, a very fun supporting comedic performance, been nominated in Cusack's place.

Among the nominees, I say Why The Hell Not to Minnie Driver winning. I agree that she did something very different, special and memorable with her very ordinary role. Her chemistry with Damon was incredibly sweet and ringed true and unforced.

I loved Moore in her role but we would later see that Far From Heaven is where she REALLY brought the house down.

I would also have ZERO problem with the Ricci/Allen/Weaver trifecta from The Ice Storm replacing Basinger/Stuart/Cusack. Weaver was so CLEARLY the rightful winner that year, as BAFTA would tell you.

Sigourney Weaver would have had my vote that year..

As it is, Joan Cusack.

I have to say that I have a soft spot for all of these ladies, for different reasons of course.

Looking over this list, I'd give it to Julianne Moore. I actually enjoyed Kim Basinger's character Lynn Bracken and I was super happy to see LA Confidential get that second Oscar because that other juggernaut made it near impossible for it to win anything else.

And Joan is so funny and with great timing.

And no matter what anybody said about Gloria Stuart, I was thrilled to see her getting this attention. Yes, it's an emotional response, but so what if it was.
And given Minnie Driver's situation, she was brave to show up and smile throughout.