The Most Controversial Oscars Best Picture Winner In Years Is A Streaming Hit On Netflix

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When Peter Farrelly's 2018 drama "Green Book" won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, it was considered something of a scandal. It told the story of real-life pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his friendship with his rough-hewn driver, a hungry mook nicknamed Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen). The film is set in 1962, and follows Shirley on a musical tour through the very, very racist Deep South, with Tony acting as his chauffeur. The Green Book of the title refers to the real-life travel guide "The Negro Motorist Green Book," a guide for Black travelers to avoid the most dangerously racist parts of the South. 

The movie "Green Book," while about racism, is presented as a feel-good drama about how racism would evaporate if people just learned to be friends. It banks on stereotypes, and there is an insulting scene wherein Tony explains to Shirley that, in being a refined musician, he has become alienated from his own Black culture. Tony is the one to "white-splain" to Shirley that Black people love fried chicken. The film seems to say that Tony's casual, unexamined bigotry is bad, but it's just as bad as Shirley's own snotty sophistry. 

It was seen as a grave artistic injustice that "Green Book," made by a white filmmaker, should be getting so much acclaim in the same year that saw more salient, intriguing, and much better movies coming from Black filmmakers. 2018 was also the year of Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther," and Boots Riley's "Sorry to Bother You." 

But "Green Book" was a huge hit, making $321.8 million on its $23 million budget. It's currently one of the most-watched movies on Netflix. Even if it flattened racism into bland, crowd-pleasing tropes, many crowds seem pleased.

Green Book might be the worst Best Picture winner of all time

Justin Chang, writing for the Los Angeles Times, responded to the Best Picture win of "Green Book" with a notable editorial called simply "'Green Book' Is the Worst Best Picture Winner Since 'Crash'." The critic noted all the ways the film's win was an embarrassment all around. Chang rightfully pointed out that the movie boiled racism down to a dumb Hollywood backstory that can easily be unlocked with the power of friendship. He wrote: 

"Like ['Crash'], Peter Farrelly's interracial buddy dramedy is insultingly glib and hucksterish, a self-satisfied crock masquerading as an olive branch. It reduces the long, barbaric, and ongoing history of American racism to a problem, a formula, a dramatic equation that can be balanced and solved. 'Green Book' is an embarrassment; the film industry's unquestioning embrace of it is another." 

Not only is "Green Book" made by a white filmmaker, but it also frustratingly foregrounds the white character. Tony Lip is the narrator, and while he's casually racist and abundantly hungry (he rolls up a whole pizza and eats it like a burrito), he is also seen as the "wise sage" who can guide Don Shirley toward being friendlier and more humane. Many might wonder why a film about racism in 1962, and named after the Green Books of the era, should not have the Black character as its protagonist. Instead, we're treated to insulting scenes like watching Shirley taste fried chicken.

Of course, Chang also pointed out, the Academy has done this sort of thing before. In 1989, they awarded Best Picture to "Driving Miss Daisy," another film about an interracial friendship between a driver and a passenger. They only nominated Spike Lee's seminal "Do the Right Thing" for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. It lost both. 

What critics thought of Green Book

On Rotten Tomatoes, "Green Book" received a surprisingly high 77% approval rating, based on 362 reviews. That said, even many of the positive reviews are qualified, with many critics noting that, at best, "Green Book" is sentimental claptrap. Geoffrey Macnab, writing for the Independent, noted that the film made him feel good, even if he understood that it was a fairy tale that "flatters the audience about its own good sense and tolerance." At the end, it turns into "a full-blown Christmas movie," with all the gooeyness therein.

Most reviews were more in line with Lawrence Ware's review in the New York Times, which was scathing and correct. He notes a particularly hurtful scene wherein Don Shirley goes to a local YMCA in an attempt to have a discreet fling with another man. Shirley hadn't told Tony Lip that he was queer, nor was the audience informed, so his sexuality is presented as a "shock" moment. Tony bounds to the rescue, paying off the cops who would otherwise arrest Shirley for the crime of being gay and Black in the South. Ware points out that the scene lifts out of the movie. Don's sexuality doesn't come up again. Tony is the tolerant one, and Don is the one who chides him for bribing the cops. "Green Book" has no interest in the realities of being a queer Black man in 1962. The film only touts that such men need a white defender. It's so patronizing. 

We can only posit why audiences are flocking to "Green Book" on Netflix in 2026. Perhaps they know its reputation and are curious. Or perhaps many people love the film unconditionally. Either way, people are seeing this terrible thing.