Fatman
Saban Films | Release Date: November 13, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
11
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussNov 12, 2020
In the humor department, Fatman’s is a scattershot but often clever affair thanks to the film’s director brothers, Ian and Eshom Nelms. Their last feature, the eccentric desert noir “Small Town Crime,” worked positive human connections into a dark, violent framework, so that seems to be a theme dear to the Tulare County-raised siblings. Read full review
70
Film ThreatHunter LanierNov 9, 2020
If you’re hoping Fatman is an explosive, hog wild bullet storm of Christmas camp, dial back your expectations. There’s always next year. If you’re good, that is. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellNov 9, 2020
The end product is a hugely satisfying and wholly original Christmas pic that will no doubt become required viewing on an annual basis for those who prefer their holiday favorites to be a little less traditional. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerNov 12, 2020
As far as revisionist takes on the Santa story go, Fatman is a long way from the whimsical charm of last year's Oscar-nominated Klaus. Yet for all its bizarre Spaghetti Western nihilism, sporadically going full Franco Nero Django bloodfest, Fatman has an oddly warm heart under its brutal exterior. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 18, 2020
Fatman skids and slides and careens between genres and never finds solid footing in any one place, and ultimately winds up as an interesting failed experiment. Read full review
55
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeNov 9, 2020
The goals of Fatman exceed its grasp; it wants to be funny but also grim but also realistic but also about Santa Claus. Had the film moved a few degrees in either direction, upping the dark humor or concentrating more on minimalist despair and brutal action, the Nelms brothers might have been onto something. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 17, 2020
There’s more than enough deranged originality there — and Christmas spirit, when all is said and done — that it gets the job done, in a cheap thrills, guilty pleasure kind of way. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMark DujsikNov 13, 2020
Gruff and always on the cusp of irate, Gibson is fine as this twist on Santa, but his performance, like the whole of the movie, simply rides on a single, warped idea. The slightly clever gimmick and simple plot are the true stars of Fatman, a movie that misses out on a whole lot of what could have been. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanNov 12, 2020
This, in other words, is not your father’s grungy one-joke yuletide action comedy. It’s “The Santa Clause” meets “Magnum Claus,” and it’s pitched to the Gibson faithful with the idea that they’ll follow him anywhere (which they probably will). Read full review
50
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpNov 11, 2020
As it stands, Gibson and Goggins carry the show and the Nelms stick to their stern tone without wavering. Whatever other marks the film misses, at least it has conviction. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 9, 2020
Fatman has its wicked charms, but ultimately this cheeky action-comedy is a lot of buildup without sufficient payoff. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeNov 9, 2020
As it moves toward a climax that will require Santa to connect with his inner action hero, the film works better than it should without being as enjoyable as its predecessor, the brothers' much less ambitious Small Town Crime. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 13, 2020
There’s nothing wrong with subtle or contextual humor, of course, but here, frankly, it feels like a waste of a pretty great concept. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippNov 12, 2020
Fatman isn’t a lump of coal. More like a fruitcake your neighbor dropped off in early December that’s left on the counter through the new year, its red and green cherries hardening into buckshot before being hauled out to the curb with the Christmas tree. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisNov 12, 2020
Waffling between anger and pathos, dry humor and dead-eyed violence, Fatman feels tonally befuddled. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 9, 2020
At times it’s a learn-your-lesson story. At times it’s a shoot-’em-up that does not skimp on the gore. Whatever trope it dips into, it does so without much originality. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 24, 2020
For a movie about an assassin charged with killing Santa Claus (!) on the orders of a Richie Rich-like brat (!!), and starring Mel Gibson (!!!) as Kris Kringle himself, Fatman is astoundingly boring. Read full review
38
UproxxVince ManciniNov 12, 2020
It’s a conceptual joke in search of actual jokes. Like a C- term paper delivered on time, the most impressive thing about Fatman is that it’s finished. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 12, 2020
Most of their jokes miss the mark and the movie gets lost in action/thriller territory that’s anything but thrilling. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChuck BowenNov 9, 2020
If it weren’t so airless, it’d be easier to appreciate Fatman a character study of Santa’s midlife woes. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 9, 2020
This bland stab at seasonal entertainment is too enamored by its own edgy revisionism to deliver on that promise, and after the 2020 that we’ve been having, everyone — young, old, Christian, and not — deserves something better in their stocking this year. Read full review
25
ConsequenceBlake GobleNov 9, 2020
Another lump of coal in Gibson’s rapidly declining filmography. Fatman has no gifts to speak of. It’s kind of cheap. It’s fairly cynical and/or mean-spirited. It’s not fun. No good. Lumpy in execution. Deeply archaic in its thinking. Ho ho ho-hum. Read full review
25
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 9, 2020
Gibson’s got another strong performance in him, I think, but this Christmas crapola sure ain’t it. Read full review
0
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 9, 2020
As funny as a mass shooting at the North Pole, and relying on just such a finale to sell it, Fatman is one of the epic miscalculations of any cinematic holiday season. Read full review
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