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Fatman

2020

Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms

Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Chance Hurstfield ...

4.6

2,528

Comedy. Thriller It centers on a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus "Gibson" who is fighting his business decline.

	Author	Review
United States	John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"It's not one of those prefab cult movies that cynically throws one absurdity after another onscreen in the hopes of going viral. Heaven help them, the Nelms brothers actually care about this story"	NEU
United States	Johnny Oleksinski New York Post	"And here I thought the pandemic would ruin Christmas. But Mel Gibson got there first (...) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Chuck Bowen Slant	"Gibson gives an honorable, vivid performance (...) But that’s not enough to quell the disappointment that the filmmakers have taken their lurid one-joke premise so literally (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Fatman has its wicked charms, but ultimately this cheeky action-comedy is a lot of buildup without sufficient payoff"	NEU
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Combining the crude spirit of 'Bad Santa' with the grittiness of a Zack Snyder film, "Fatman" is worse than a lump of coal in your stocking."	NEG
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"[It] will feel like a Christmas gift to the Gibson faithful and a stunt to anyone else"	NEU
United Kingdom	Stuart Heritage The Guardian	"[The problem is] that 'Fatman' just doesn’t go anywhere (...) [It] has more in common with a mass-produced Hallmark holiday movie that it would like you to believe."	NEG
United States	Alonso Duralde The Wrap	"These are interesting, provocative concepts, particularly in the world of the Christmas movie, but the goals of 'Fatman' exceed its grasp; it wants to be funny but also grim but also realistic but also about Santa Claus"	NEU
United States	Jeannette Catsoulis The New York Times	"'Fatman' feels tonally befuddled (...) The script (by the directors) isn’t sharp enough to support his or Gibson’s efforts"	NEG
United States	Zach Long Time Out	"[It] is the cinematic equivalent of a stocking filled with coal (...) [Nothing] can save this elf-sploitation fiasco from feeling like a slog (…) Rating: ★ (out of 5)"	NEG

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