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Features: Director's Cut, DVD
The baddest Santa ever comes to town in this never-before-seen exclusive director's cut starring the hilarious Billy Bob Thornton (The Alamo), Bernie Mac (Ocean's 12), and John Ritter (TV's 8 Simple Rules). Ill-mannered store Santa Willie Stokes (Thornton) is really a safecracker with a holiday tradition of making one big score every Christmas Eve with his clever elf - partner-in-crime, Marcus. But this year's heist-fest could be completely foiled by a snoopy store manager (Ritter), savvy mall detective (Mac), sexy Santa fan, and an innocent 8-year-old misfit who thinks the intoxicated and felonious Willie is the real Santa he seeks. Forget the cookies and milk; this is the grittier gut-busting comedy Rolling Stone pegs as "a Christmas perennial for Scrooges of all ages!"
"Gloriously funky in the good old meaning of the term." Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
"As surreal as it is obscene, as clever as it is crude." Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer
"The movie is -- how can I say this? -- funny as hell." Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Editor's Note
Billy Bob Thornton is terrific as Willie T. Stokes, a lowlife department-store Santa in Terry Zwigoff's outrageous comedic follow-up to his offbeat hit GHOST WORLD. Every year, Stokes takes a job as Santa in a different place in order to rob the store he's working in. The diminutive Tony Cox plays his horny sidekick, Marcus, the real mastermind, who is even more foulmouthed than Stokes. Brett Kelly is Thurman Merman, an eight-year-old who desperately needs to believe in the real Santa Claus--and just might have a good enough heart to change Stokes's evil ways. Or maybe not. And Lauren Graham plays Sue, a young sexpot who wants to get a different kind of gift from Santa. Providing excellent comic relief in this black comedy is John Ritter, in his last film role, as the mousy mall manager, and Bernie Mac as Gin, the mall security guard who suspects something is not right. Be warned--BAD SANTA is not a family holiday movie. It is lewd, crude, and very funny, but it is most definitely not for children. Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers behind such quirky hits as RAISING ARIZONA and BARTON FINK, are the executive producers who came up with the idea in the first place, influenced by the likes of THE BAD NEWS BEARS and SOUTH PARK.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Behind-The-Scenes Featurette | | Deleted & Alternate Scenes | | Interactive Menus | | New Audio Commentary With Director Terry Zwigoff & Editor Robert Hoffman | | Outtakes | | Scene Selection |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Bad Santa - DVD Review By: Annette Cardwell - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 10/23/2009 5:09 PM | |
Director Terry Zwigoff launched a career with his debut film, Crumb, the disturbing yet fascinating documentary about cult comic book artist Robert Crumb. It’s rumored that in order to get Crumb to agree to have a biopic, Zwigoff threatened to kill himself if Crumb refused to cooperate. Then the film festival hero went on to direct the fantastically negative, critically acclaimed Ghost World. From those dark beginnings comes Bad Santa, Zwigoff’s idea of a Christmas movie, and it’s nothing less than you’d expect. Finally, misanthropes have a holiday film of their very own....read the full review |
| Bad Santa (Director's Cut) Cinema Blend DVD Reviews Published on: 10/17/2006 10:13 PM | | Christmas movies are a time-honored tradition within our society. They all contain the same morals, and end with singing, laughing, and a sense of generosity towards fellow man. The happiness is sticky, gooey; a wad of chewing gum hooked to the inner walls of a bleeding heart. If you're like me, disgusted with such cookie-cutter creations, and desire a true holiday classic, then Bad Santa is the film for you. ...read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista |
| Release Date: 10/10/2006 |
| Running Time: 88 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2003 | | Catalog ID: 5036503 | | UPC: 00786936702477 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (2004) | | | Golden Globe, Billy Bob Thornton, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...An achingly funny and corrupt dark comedy....Mr. Zwigoff has a taste for finding the dramatic power of self-loathing and making it entertainment..." 11/26/2003 p.E1Los Angeles Times
"...It unapologetically exults in its characters' glorious imperfection..." 11/26/2003 p.C3 Rolling Stone
"...Billy Bob Thornton is sinfully funny....As slime personified, he's sublime..." 12/11/2003 p.214 USA Today
"There are 50 times more laughs here than in THE CAT IN THE HAT." 12/05/2003 p.12E Chicago Sun-Times
"BAD SANTA is a demented, twisted, unreasonably funny work of comic kamikaze style." 11/26/2003 p.61 Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[T]ransgressive-comedy heaven." 07/01/2004 p.87 Uncut
"BAD SANTA is a towering achievement: a dark, profane comedy about everything that's both right and wrong with the season of goodwill. Essential, dark-hearted Yuletide viewing for misanthropes everywhere." 12/01/2004 p.178 ReelViews 7 of 10
Bad Santa is definitely not for everyone. If you appreciate movies that don't compromise on their comedic journey into the heart of darkness, this is for you. If you howled at Danny DeVito's War of the Roses and think it's one of the best comedies to reach theaters in the last 20 years, Bad Santa will delight you. But if you're expecting something kinder and gentler, there's still time to see Elf. Because "kind" and "gentle" are two words no one is ever going to use to describe Bad Santa. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Santa is a depressed, alcoholic safecracker. The kid is not one of your cute movie kids, but an intense and needy stalker; think of Thomas the Tank Engine as a member of the Addams Family. Oh, and there's an elf, too, named Marcus. The elf is an angry dwarf who has been working with Santa for eight years, cracking the safe in a different department store every Christmas. The elf is fed up. Santa gets drunk on the job, he's boinking customers in the Plus Sizes dressing room, and whether the children throw up on Santa or he throws up on them is a toss-up, no pun intended. - Roger Ebert
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