Bad Santa

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

166K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

175

Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, Tony Cox, and Brett Kelly in Bad Santa (2003)

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Dark Comedy Holiday Comedy Raunchy Comedy Comedy Crime Drama Holiday

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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

166K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

175

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 12 nominations total

Videos3

We Are Santa | Supercut

Photos192

+ 185

User reviews575

7.0166.1K

Featured reviews

8jiraf

Wonderfully Funny, Very Irreverrent Christmas Movie

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.

8SnoopyStyle

Inappropriately Brilliant

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.

8trickydicky

Crude,Rude and Surprisingly Touching

I avoided this flic when it first came out due to the reviews which concentrated on the 'cynicism'and 'edgyness' of the effort. It is crude.It is rude.And is is filled with enough 4-letter words to be its own zone of bad taste. Know what else? Billy Bob Thorton is masterful as is the rest of the cast.There are no 'heroes',but Billy Bob is not exactly an anti-hero either.He portrays a broken,dysfunctional loser who holds nothing in contempt so much as himself.Desiring nothing so much as extinction,he rambles through life hating EVERYTHING. But it's Christmas,and even for losers third,fourth,fifth,or 50th chances sometimes show up.Watching Billy Bob's character 'grow-up'during the film is surprisingly heartwarming.For a broken man,he does the best he can once he allows himself to 'give-a-damm'. See this for his performance(and the rest of the cast),and be surprised.

7=G=

Excellent casting

He drinks and smokes and pukes and wets his pants and has sex in public places. He has a horrible attitude, a trash mouth, is mean to little kids, hates himself, and robs department stores. Ok, so he's not all bad, but he is without a doubt the worst department store Santa ever. There's not a lot of stretching required of Thornton to get into character in this flick which capitalizes on the grosser than gross sense of comedy/humor as it wends its way through a simple tale about a scamming Santa and his dwarf/elf sidekick who rip off a department store a year to avoid honest toil. A mildly creative love it or hate it flick which tries as hard to be disgusting as funny, "Bad Santa" has, for obvious reasons, received mixed reviews. Only for the thick skinned who aren't easily offended by bad language, bad attitudes, or bad, bad Santas. (B)

8sfwriter999

One of the funniest movies for a long time

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.

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Trivia
Billy Bob Thornton has said that he was genuinely intoxicated during some of filming. In the escalator fall scene, he actually passed out after drinking three glasses of red wine for breakfast followed by vodkas, cranberry juice, and a few Bud Lights.

Goofs
When Willie is in the bath talking to the Kid, the cloth he has draped over his face changes pattern and color between shots.

Quotes
[Willie has just passed out]
Gin: Look here, get himy outta here and I'll go smooth things over with Chipeska, Tell him it was food poisoning or something.
Marcus: What do you mean, get him outta here?
Gin: Take him to the car.
Marcus: In case you didn't notice I'm a motherfucking dwarf, so unless you got a forklift handy, maybe you should lend a hand hmm?
Gin: That figures. You want all kind of set-asides. Special treatment 'cause you're handicapped. You're all the same.
Marcus: Special treatment? I'm 3-foot-fucking-tall you asshole! It's a matter of physics. Draw me a sketch of how I get him to the car, huh?
Gin: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch!
Marcus: Sketch it up, you fucking moron. Fucking Leonardo da Vinci.
Gin: What'd you call me thigh-high?
Marcus: I called you a fucking guinea homo from the 15th-fucking-century, you dickhead!
Gin: I could stick you up my ass, small fry.
Marcus: Yeah? You sure it ain't too sore from last night?
Gin: You got some lip on you midget.
Marcus: Yeah? Well these lips were on your wife's pussy last night. Why don't you dust that thing off once in a while? Asshole!

Crazy credits
There is a special thanks to Leonardo DiCaprio

Alternate versions
The 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.

Connections
Edited into Bad Santa: Deleted and Alternate Scenes (2004)

Soundtracks
Nocturne 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