Was Mickey Rourke robbed of an Oscar?

“Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler earned near-universal praise and single-handedly resurrected his career,” said Kat Angus in the Montreal Gazette. But, incredibly, the Best Actor Oscar went to Sean Penn for Milk! "Inconceivable!” It’s really hard to “shake the feeling that Rourke was robbed.” (Click here to see Rourke at the Oscars)

But Sean Penn reached “new emotional depths” in his role as slain gay politician Harvey Milk, said the Los Angeles Times. Penn took us all on “a transformative journey,” from “the grit of a subway hookup to the emerging idealism of the martyr” Milk was to become. This was the role of a lifetime for Penn, and he earned that Oscar. (Click here to watch Penn’s acceptance speech)

“Sure, maybe it was a better performance” than Rourke’s, said Kyle Munzenrieder in the Miami New Times. “But Sean Penn's career is one naked grab for Awards nominations after another in relatively safe pictures.” It’s not that we “hate Sean Penn that much (never mind, we totally do),” it’s just that “we really wanted to see Mickey Rourke win.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up