Bad Santa
- 2003
- Tous publics
- 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
162K
YOUR RATING
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.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.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.
- Awards
- 1 win & 12 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is a drunk who plays store Santa for Christmas. He and his partner-in-crime Marcus (Tony Cox) case out the department store where they work and rob it on Christmas Eve every year. Willie befriends a chubby loner boy (Brett Kelly), and bartender Sue (Lauren Graham) who has Santa issues. Then store manager Gin (Bernie Mac) muscles in on their action.
Bad Santa is demented and destructive. Billy Bob Thornton goes over the edge, and Tony Cox goes right along with him. This is no Christmas special. And I love the kid Brett Kelly. He isn't your average adorable little kid. He's your average loser kid. That makes their friendship so much better. This is a great black Christmas.
Bad Santa is demented and destructive. Billy Bob Thornton goes over the edge, and Tony Cox goes right along with him. This is no Christmas special. And I love the kid Brett Kelly. He isn't your average adorable little kid. He's your average loser kid. That makes their friendship so much better. This is a great black Christmas.
An extreme end to christmas comedy genre. It's so vulgar it makes you puke. It's so dark and makes you laugh to things you never wants to laugh but you'll still laugh anyway.
It's innovative cinematic style that embeds Tarantino, Ritchie and many darkly comic film makers makes this a unique gem of a film.
Characters are amazing. Style and film making is exceptional. Still it's a cinematic experience. And a fresh one at that.
Overall - 3.5/5
It's innovative cinematic style that embeds Tarantino, Ritchie and many darkly comic film makers makes this a unique gem of a film.
Characters are amazing. Style and film making is exceptional. Still it's a cinematic experience. And a fresh one at that.
Overall - 3.5/5
This is one of the best Christmas movie of all times. The casting is brilliant, and the chemistry between all the characters is very much present.
Billy Bob Thornton was especially funny as the loser in life who dons the red suit every Christmas. Just seeing Santa behaving drunken and swearing every other word tells you how different this is from the typical Christmas family friendly movies.
Bernie Mac was funny in his supporting role, and Tony Cox was OK. Billy Bob was phenomenal.
I've watched this movie twice already this Christmas season, and I loved every minute of it.
Billy Bob Thornton was especially funny as the loser in life who dons the red suit every Christmas. Just seeing Santa behaving drunken and swearing every other word tells you how different this is from the typical Christmas family friendly movies.
Bernie Mac was funny in his supporting role, and Tony Cox was OK. Billy Bob was phenomenal.
I've watched this movie twice already this Christmas season, and I loved every minute of it.
Forget Jimmy Stewart and that claymation crap! If you like Christmas movies with more of an edge and lots of comedy however, "Bad Santa" might just be your new favorite holiday movie. In my mind, usurping "A Christmas Story" and "Scrooged" as the funniest holiday movie yet, Bad Santa (or BS as I like to call it) pulls no punches as it delivers a raunchy, yet funny, and yes, even a little bit of a touching film.
Billy Bob Thorton is a drinking, fornicating, defecating thief who freeloads for the whole year, only to work 25 days in December while robbing a mall of all it's holiday proceeds. His partner in crime is Tony Cox, Santa's little person helper who keeps him sober and lucid enough through the season to not royally screw things up.
I won't go into details, because frankly the plot needs work. But the acting is superb, the script hysterical, and the unbelievable jokes and inappropriate situations are just so entertaining you won't care about anything else.
Bernie Mac and Lauren Graham deliver polished supporting roles, as does John Ritter in his final film role before his death. The kid doesn't have many lines (and I want to slap him for the ones he does deliver), but just looking at him makes me laugh, so I can't complain there.
Basically, this is the ultimate inappropriate Christmas movie; one that makes you stand up and scream, "Holly s*!t I can't believe they did that!" This movie is just so blatantly wrong, the only other film I can compare it to is "South Park: The Movie." Just as South Park crosses every line of decency that previously existed, so does BS. A great movie because of it? Hell no. But a funny and entertaining one? Hell yes!
Billy Bob Thorton is a drinking, fornicating, defecating thief who freeloads for the whole year, only to work 25 days in December while robbing a mall of all it's holiday proceeds. His partner in crime is Tony Cox, Santa's little person helper who keeps him sober and lucid enough through the season to not royally screw things up.
I won't go into details, because frankly the plot needs work. But the acting is superb, the script hysterical, and the unbelievable jokes and inappropriate situations are just so entertaining you won't care about anything else.
Bernie Mac and Lauren Graham deliver polished supporting roles, as does John Ritter in his final film role before his death. The kid doesn't have many lines (and I want to slap him for the ones he does deliver), but just looking at him makes me laugh, so I can't complain there.
Basically, this is the ultimate inappropriate Christmas movie; one that makes you stand up and scream, "Holly s*!t I can't believe they did that!" This movie is just so blatantly wrong, the only other film I can compare it to is "South Park: The Movie." Just as South Park crosses every line of decency that previously existed, so does BS. A great movie because of it? Hell no. But a funny and entertaining one? Hell yes!
I saw the trailers and knew what I was in for when I went to see Bad Santa. It's not Nice Santa or Naughty Santa, but BAAADD SANTA, horribly drunk and disorderly Santa. Rude and Crude Santa.
I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
There is a lot of sexual situations and profanity, but you have to look past it. Those sensitive to foul language should not watch this movie nor FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. This is not a kiddie movie, but a movie made for adults.
Compared to ELF, SANTA CLAUSE, and a whole raft of other so-so Christmas related comedies, this is one of the best. Most holiday humor movies are always on the lightside with an eye to the children market during the holidays. This one ranks in there with A Christmas STORY and PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES and THE GRINCH WHO STOLE Christmas (cartoon version).
BAD SANTA is Christmas at its darkest, full of profanity, bad people, and evil deeds. But at the heart of it is a small bit of caring by one Bad Santa.
I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
There is a lot of sexual situations and profanity, but you have to look past it. Those sensitive to foul language should not watch this movie nor FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. This is not a kiddie movie, but a movie made for adults.
Compared to ELF, SANTA CLAUSE, and a whole raft of other so-so Christmas related comedies, this is one of the best. Most holiday humor movies are always on the lightside with an eye to the children market during the holidays. This one ranks in there with A Christmas STORY and PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES and THE GRINCH WHO STOLE Christmas (cartoon version).
BAD SANTA is Christmas at its darkest, full of profanity, bad people, and evil deeds. But at the heart of it is a small bit of caring by one Bad Santa.
Did you know
- TriviaBilly Bob Thornton has said that he was genuinely intoxicated during some of filming. In the escalator fall scene, he actually passed out after drinking 3 glasses of red wine for breakfast followed by vodkas, cranberry juice, and a few Bud Lights.
- GoofsWhen Marcus turns off the surveillance cameras, he uses one button to turn off the TVs. If he just turned off the TVs, then the cameras would still be recording (but the images wouldn't be displayed in the security room).
- Crazy creditsThere is a special thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio
- Alternate versionsThe 99-minute 'Badder Santa' was assembled by the studio without any input from the director. The 88-minute 'Director's Cut' was assembled and approved by Zwigoff.
- ConnectionsEdited into Bad Santa: Deleted and Alternate Scenes (2003)
- SoundtracksNocturne No. 2 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 9 No.2
Written by Frédéric Chopin (as Frederick Chopin)
Performed by Idil Biret, piano
Courtesy of Naxos
By arrangement with Source/Q
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Un santa no tan santo
- Filming locations
- Del Amo Fashion Center - Hawthorne Boulevard & Carson Street, Torrance, California, USA(as Saguaro Square Mall)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $23,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $60,060,328
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,500,000
- Nov 30, 2003
- Gross worldwide
- $76,490,995
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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