2003 Directed by Terry Zwigoff
A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid, and the security boss discovers the plot.
Billy Bob Thornton Tony Cox Brett Kelly Bernie Mac John Ritter Lauren Graham Lauren Tom Octavia Spencer Cloris Leachman Lorna Scott Billy Gardell Alex Borstein Kerry Rossall Curtis Taylor Ajay Naidu Harrison Bieker Dylan Charles Alexandra Korhan Lisa Ross Matt Walsh Bryan Callen Tom McGowan Grace Calderon Christine Pichardo Bucky Dominick Georgia Eskew Hayden Bromberg Max Van Ville Briana Norton Show All…
Badder Santa, Bad Santa 1, Plohoj.Santa, Bad Santa (Director's Cut)
Very hilarious that the guy who made my favorite documentary of all time also made this. Not surprising at the same time. Enjoyed this more than I should have lmfao
i didn't actually watch this i just want to say that i'm in my Comedy in Media class and the professor just pulled out the script, claimed it was written by the coen brothers (??! no??), and is now reading it out loud to the class ,, please ,,., save me , i beg
Bad Santa is probably the funniest Christmas movie I've seen. It completely subverts the traditional holiday themes in favor of total irreverent anarchy perfectly coupled with an elegant classical soundtrack. Billy Bob's character arc is pleasantly palpable for a comedy of this caliber as well, especially for having such a condensed runtime. I've never felt so invested in such a short fused comedy. Hopefully, I'll be making this one a new annual Christmas tradition.
Bad Santa may be vile, crass, and misanthropic, but thanks to Glenn Ficarra & John Requa's sharp script, Terry Zwigoff's noirish direction, and fantastic performances from a superb cast, it has a genuine wit and real edge to it as well as a surprising amount of heart that's twisted yet very much organic, and for that, it's one of my favorite Christmas films of all time.
Gleefully profane and unabashedly nasty. Bad Santa is a pretty funny movie. There is a lot of inappropriate stuff and really bad humor in it . All in all, pretty bad. It seemed to assume that using profanity in front of a kid is humorous.
It’s for sure a comedy made in 2003 with all the awful trappings that entails but it’s also one of maybe three christmas movies that have ever made me feel something. I think it’s that kid? I don’t know. Most of my mental energy is going towards the Kevin Spacey video today.
A dark comedy that is neither dark enough nor funny enough to make things really work, Terry Zwigoff's "Bad Santa" is a stocking full of cinematic coal. Following a mall Santa who drinks, steals, and womanizes, the film offers a healthy dose of holiday cynicism but is not satisfyingly committed to its own bleak wrinkles. It is all very colorful, but it is never very engaging.
Starring Billy Bob Thornton as the bad Santa, Zwigoff's cast is the film's strongest element. Thornton drinks and curses his way through the film and provides the occasional belly laugh. The late John Ritter and the late Bernie Mac offer crackling foils to the yuletide scoundrel, and Lauren Graham, Tony Cox, and Brett Kelly…
Review In A Nutshell:
It was Ghost World that introduced me to the works of Terry Zwigoff, and sadly that experience was not a particularly joyous one, as I found it to be difficult to identify deeply with its themes and did find the appeal in the way they were executed through the story. Bad Santa feels like the film Zwigoff wanted to create in order to catch those that were not satisfied with his previous film, and wouldn't you know it, I was satisfied with what he has brought here.
Bad Santa is not your traditional Christmas story, instead of focusing on the values and ideas behind the holiday, the film places its focus on its protagonist, and highlights…
"You know, I think I've turned a corner... I beat the shit out of some kids today. But it was for a purpose. It made me feel good about myself. It was like I did something constructive with my life or something, I dunno, like I accomplished something."
--Willie, Bad Santa
Does anyone remember how Bad Santa was originally marketed? I can't find it on YouTube, but the commercial I saw that inspired me to go see it featured a heavily-bleeped out version of the scene where Bernie Mac and Tony Cox exchange a series of scorching burns in front of Santa's chair. I couldn't figure out why Indie wunderkind Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World) was doing a mainstream wacky…
FILM #40-DECEMBER CHALLENGE 2
Billy Bob Thornton is one of those guys that the more he swears the funnier he is. This Terry Zwigoff film is as far removed from a traditional Christmas film as you can get, but somehow there is something so "joyful & triumphant" about it. Possibly the crudest Yuletide film ever made, it's also one of the funniest.
Drunks on screen can be very hit or miss. For every perfect portrayal you have twenty that are unrealistic. Billy Bob's however is up there alongside Nicolas Cage's turn in "Leaving Las Vegas" as one of the best. From verbally abusing children to pissing himself, he isn't exactly professional. His safe-cracking Christmas Santa is an accident waiting to happen.…
Film #98 of The December Project
I don't know why this film knocks me on my ass from laughing so hard every time I watch it, but there you have it. Bad Santa is unapologetically crass and somehow manages to keep your attention with a bewilderingly bizarre and underdeveloped plot. Billy Bob Thornton was born to play this character, so that helps. I feel a little ashamed of myself for watching this in place of some other Christmas classics, but sometimes I just want to turn my brain off and enjoy some stupid comedy.
Sometimes when I get really depressed about the absurdity of existence I remind myself that everything is okay because there's still a Billy Bob Thornton.
An underrated black comedy gem. Bernie Mac and John Ritter absolutely kill me in this. Ritter, specifically, is utterly brilliant as the laced too tight mall manager whose every facial expression and reaction is pure comedy gold.
The Coen Brothers should really produce more Christmas movies.
The script is tight and Billy Bob sells his character and showcases his growth in a way that’s necessary for the final act to be impactful. The editing is atrocious though. Why were there so many cuts that looked like TV ad breaks? This movie was in theatres right?!?!
Bernie Mac and Lauren Graham are the unsung heroes of this film. It’s dated in the fun way and better than I remembered it. The problem is that it takes a little too long to find both its tone and story. It really picks up after about thirty-five minutes though to become something worth watching.
I thoroughly enjoyed how much of this movie was Billy Bob Thornton enjoying ass. Shout out to ass.
An uproariously perverted and nasty antidote to Christmas cheer. For a vulgar early 2000s comedy, it holds up surprisingly well. The Coen Brothers polish on this script sands down some of the worse impulses this movie could have gone for, and it’s still as misanthropic as a mainstream comedy from the director of Ghost World can get even with some obvious studio editing choices. I wish I could have been one of those lucky kids whose parents thought this was a family movie and got... this.
Y’all think this is a movie... they just got a camera to follow Billy Bob around for a month
This isn't a good movie. One might even say it's a bad movie (har, har). But it's somehow kind of charming?
MundoF 12,843 films
It’s an LGBTQ+ world and these are my other LGBTQ+ lists on Letterboxd:
➡️Minor Interest Films: In the Closet: A…
💫 71 films
Every movie referenced either directly or indirectly on a Kanye West song. Tell me if I miss any
Edit: I…
JulieC 4,304 films
I love love Christmas and Christmas movies!!
Movies set at, around or a scene at Christmas. Also some New Years…
hunter strawberry 161 films
here's to the bros who dream, knowledgable as they may seem
(open to suggestions)
Jayce Fryman 18,687 films
This list collects every film from the Starting List that became They Shoot Pictures Don't They's 1000 Greatest Films. This…
Darren Carver-Balsiger 629 films
Made this list for my friend Alex. Since comedy is his favourite genre, I thought it'd be fun to find…
Oscar Lau 999 films
The latest 2020 edition of TSPDT The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films (www.theyshootpictures.com/21stcentury.htm)
Missing in Letterboxd: 629th: The Wire (2002-2008)
Wilkins 162 films
For five years, film critic Scott Tobias compiled "The New Cult Canon" in a regular column for The A.V. Club…
KJKnow 1,815 films
Every feature film on the program at the New Beverly Cinema since Quentin Tarantino took over as programmer. Feel free…
