The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
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Bad Santa
Drama · Comedy · Crime · 2003
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.
Movie details
Bad Santa
“He doesn't care if you're naughty or nice.”
2003 Drama · Comedy · Crime 1h 32m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.0 / 10
166.5K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
78 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
70 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.6 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Bad Santa?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Small Apartments
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A Madea Christmas
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Madea dispenses her unique form of holiday spirit on rural town when she's coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas.
The Beanie Bubble
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Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas
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On her first holiday without her father, Zoey attempts to create a magical Christmas for her family just like the ones Mitch used to do.
Nightmare Alley
Crime · 2021
An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.
Judy & Punch
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Affliction
Crime · 1998
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Terry Zwigoff
Written by
Glenn Ficarra · John Requa
Billy Bob Thornton
Willie
Tony Cox
Marcus
Lauren Graham
Sue
Brett Kelly
The Kid
Lauren Tom
Lois
John Ritter
Bob Chipeska
Bernie Mac
Gin
Court is in session
Put Bad Santa on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.