I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night, and it's not Oscar worthy. I thought the first 90 minutes of the film were great and the end was extremely disappointing.
I saw Slumdog and I thought it was a great movie, def the best movie of 2009. I watched with low expectations since I didn't really know what it was all about, but it was a great movie.
Why it was good: the plot was original, the music was good and well timed, the perspective was great (seeing something completely different) and it was deep (there are a lot of symbolisms in the movie).
The thing about this movie too is that a story about a poor guy potentially moving up his social class in the USA is not necessarily a big deal here in the USA, but in India, that is almost impossible. So there is a great degree of extra insight about this story.
So in the end, I don't want to overate it. Don't go with high expectations and you will like it. If you go in expecting this movie to literally change your life, then you'll be greatly disappointed.