Movies like Bad Santa (2003)
The best movies like Bad Santa (2003) are The Ref (1994), Thin Ice (2012) and Blindspotting (2018). If Bad Santa hooked you with its drama and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)8.3/10 from 5,158 votes
- NewestI Love Boosters (2026)Released 2026
The Ref (1994)
A cat burglar is forced to take a bickering, dysfunctional family hostage on Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThin Ice (2012)
A dishonest insurance salesman's life quickly disintegrates during a Wisconsin winter when he teams up with a psychopath to steal a rare violin at the home of a reclusive farmer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlindspotting (2018)
Collin must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles, work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIntermission (2003)
A raucous story of the interweaving lives and loves of small-town delinquents, shady cops, pretty good girls and very bad boys. With Irish guts and grit, lives collide, preconceptions shatter and romance is tested to the extreme. An ill-timed and poorly executed couple's break-up sets off a chain of events affecting everyone in town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmall Apartments (2012)
When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisFreebie and the Bean (1974)
Two San Francisco detectives want to bring down a local hijacking boss. But they'll have to get to him before a hitman does.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThick as Thieves (1999)
Two master thieves go at odds with one another as one sets the other up for a crime. The first, a suave pro who does his job and then hides in his own privacy, listening to old jazz records and caring for his ailing dog, Wally. The other is a local gangster with a taste for the finer life, who decides to eliminate the competition. This ignites a war between the two men and their aides. An angry mob boss and a female police officer try to sort the mess before things get too out of hand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerrier's Bounty (2010)
A gangster named Perrier looks to exact his revenge on a trio of fugitives responsible for the accidental death of one of his cronies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBreaking News in Yuba County (2021)
An overlooked pencil-pusher catches her husband in bed with another woman, the shock of which causes him to die of a heart attack. So she buries his body and takes advantage of the growing celebrity status that comes from having a missing husband. But she quickly finds herself in over her head, dodging cops and criminals, all while trying to keep the truth from her sister, a local news anchor who’s desperate for a story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisZoey's Extraordinary Christmas (2021)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery (2022)
A holiday-hating detective is forced to solve a murder — and save Christmas — with help from famous trainees who must improv their way through the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAffliction (1998)
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Hit (1998)
Affable hit man Melvin Smiley is constantly being scammed by his cutthroat colleagues in the life-ending business. So, when he and his fellow assassins kidnap the daughter of an electronics mogul, it's naturally Melvin who takes the fall when their prime score turns sour. That's because the girl is the goddaughter of the gang's ruthless crime boss. But, even while dodging bullets, Melvin has to keep his real job secret from his unsuspecting fiancée, Pam.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Love Boosters (2026)
A group of shoplifters take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven by stealing from her stores and reselling them at a lower price — what they call 'fashion-forward philanthropy'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo (1999)
A supermarket clerk decides to step in for an absent drug dealer, setting off an explosive, comedic chain of events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRaising Arizona (1987)
When a childless couple—an ex-con and an ex-cop—take one of a wealthy family’s quintuplets to raise as their own, their lives grow more complicated than anticipated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Madea Christmas (2013)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion - The Play (2002)
The fireworks begin when Madea’s family gathers for her granddaughter’s wedding. As usual, Madea rules the roost, as she and her neighbor, the wacky Mr. Brown, deliver nonstop laughs. Live, love, rejoice...it’s Madea’s Family Reunion!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beanie Bubble (2023)
Ty was a frustrated toy salesman until his collaboration with three women turned his stuffed animals into a defining '90s trend. This behind-the-scenes look at history's biggest toy craze is a wild story about what—and who—is valued in this world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClass (1983)
Naive Midwestern prep student Jonathan bonds with his more worldly roommate, Skip, who takes the small-town boy under his wing. At Skip's urging, the inexperienced Jonathan is emboldened to seek out older women in the cocktail lounges of nearby Chicago, where he meets and beds the alluring Ellen, who unfortunately turns out to be Skip's mother. The division between the friends is further deepened when a cheating scandal engulfs the school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrink and Be Merry (2025)
At a struggling New York dive bar in the days leading up to Christmas 2019, Chet, a beleaguered bartender in a state of extended arrested development, must balance caring for his misanthropic, aging regulars — who have nowhere else to go, and rely on him for far more than pouring drinks — with his naive desires to muster some Christmas spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Small Change (1976)
The lives of a motherless young man, who's just starting to find interest in women, and his physically abused, poverty stricken friend, are mixed with more or less innocent childhood experiences and challenges most their age experience.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMoonstruck (1987)
37-year-old Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini believes she is unlucky in love, and so accepts a marriage proposal from her boyfriend Johnny, even though she doesn't love him. When she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, an emotional and passionate man, she finds herself drawn to him. She tries to resist, but Ronny, who blames his brother for the loss of his hand, has no scruples about aggressively pursuing her while Johnny is out of the country. As Loretta falls for Ronny, she learns that she's not the only one in her family with a secret romance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Holiday (2006)
Two women, one American and one British, swap homes at Christmastime following bad breakups. Each woman finds romance with a local man but realizes that the imminent return home may end the relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFalling in Love at Christmas (2021)
Miranda and Paul, two business rivals who playfully despise each other, work together on a holiday gift-giving app, and unexpected feelings develop for one another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Święta inaczej (2022)
Fed up with forced cheer, twelve-dish feasts and predictable gifts, one person rejects the usual Christmas ritual and flees to the unknown, finally doing what they truly desire instead of what they must. This holiday, nothing will be the same: the world turns upside down and even the wildest dreams may come true.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Christmas Cupcakes (2018)
When their family bakery may have to close its doors right before Christmas, rival sisters Kim and Gina must team up in a national baking competition to win the grand prize. Thrown into a world of fierce competitors and a ticking clock, it will take a Christmas miracle to save the bakery, though they may discover a prize much larger than they had hoped for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
8 Women (2002)
Eight women gather to celebrate Christmas in a snowbound cottage, only to find the family patriarch dead with a knife in his back. Trapped in the house, every woman becomes a suspect, each having her own motive and secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhile You Were Sleeping (1995)
A transit worker pulls commuter Peter off railway tracks after he's mugged, but—while he's in a coma—his family mistakenly thinks she's Peter's fiancée, and she doesn't correct them. Things get more complicated when she falls for his brother, who's not quite sure that she's who she claims to be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bad Santa?
The closest matches to Bad Santa are The Ref (1994), Thin Ice (2012) and Blindspotting (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bad Santa?
Start with The Ref (1994), the closest match to Bad Santa.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bad Santa?
It's a Wonderful Life (1946), rated 8.3/10 by 5,158 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bad Santa?
I Love Boosters (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Bad Santa?
Yes: The Ref (1994), Thin Ice (2012) and Blindspotting (2018).
How are movies similar to Bad Santa chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bad Santa, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.