Billy Bob Thornton, Coronji Calhoun, Dante Beze, Halle Berry, Heath Ledger ...( see more  see more... ) , Mos Def , Peter Boyle , Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs , Sean Combs

Hank, an embittered prison guard, lives with his aging racist father, Buck, and his own twenty something son, Sonny. Hank and Sonny work for the local prison where they are preparing the electric chai...( read more  read more... )r for a black inmate. After the man is executed, Hank falls in love with Letitia, the inmate's widow. This emotionally charged affair forces Hank to re-evaluate how deeply prison work and his father's infectious hatred have affected his soul.

Flixster Users

65% liked it

49,324 ratings

Critics

85% liked it

141 critics

R, 1 hr. 51 min.

Directed by: Marc Forster

Release Date: November 11, 2001

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DVD Release Date: June 11, 2002

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Stats: 2,421 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,421)


  • February 6, 2010
    Review coming soon.
  • December 22, 2009
    A bitter-sweet tale from start to finish, this film is all about breaking generational cycles of learned behaviour. The film has a very raw honesty about it and the emotions go from each extreme, from no feeling to intense feeling and is a most extroidinary tale of love and lost...( read more).

    It was certainly Halle Berry's best performance to date in my opinion, but Billy Bob Thornton was something else and this was arguably his best role to date too.

    The Father must have played a great role too, because the disgust of his character really is felt through the storytelling.

    One of my favourite films, it?s deep and it?s human!
  • December 9, 2009
    I'm not sure why I put off seeing this for so long. Maybe it was because all anyone ever talked about were the steamy love scenes between Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton (?). Maybe Stephanie Zacharek's negative review put me off (?). Whatever the reason, I'm happy to admit ...( read more)that my preconceptions were wrong. There is a lot here to like. Monster's Ball may not blow you away but it's sure to hold your attention with it's intelligent scripting and empathetic characters. Not OMG-fantastic but certainly not bad.
  • September 24, 2009
    Frankenstein?s testicle. Joking, this is a very entertaining film, brilliantly played by Billy Bob Thornton.
  • September 11, 2009
    Really depressing movie. The ending was really weird. But it was good to see Thornton's character finally come around.
  • February 4, 2010
    This movie tries to tell a story, with no aesthetic ambition. Apparently realistic, in fact it is broken into pieces. Appears to have been made in haste and that someone thought that everyone will be busy commenting on sex scenes and will not be interested in details.
    Fortunately...( read more), the story is not that bad.
  • January 18, 2010
    Haven't decided yet.
  • December 15, 2009
    Great movie, but I still don't know how I feel about the ending.
  • December 1, 2009
    i wanted to see it because of heath ledger
    (heartbreaking scene of heath)
    plus i had heard good things but that was a bad movie
    so like in the end the bad parents live?
    yeah it's realistic but i mean halle berry or billy bob
    should have died in the end
  • November 29, 2009
    you gotta have this one in your collection as well

Critic Reviews


February 8, 2002
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Though the film can initially seem off-putting, Monster's Ball slowly and quietly gets under your skin. full review

February 1, 2002
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The movie has the complexity of great fiction, and requires our empathy as we interpret the decisions that are made. full review

January 4, 2002
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

It's less than half a fine movie. The great surprise is that its actors come through in the clutch. full review

December 26, 2001
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

This is one of those rare movies in which even people glimpsed only for a moment or two seem to have lives that ramify beyond the screen, as if the story were being witnessed rather than dramatized. full review

December 21, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The actors make it unique and unforgettable. full review

View more Monster's Ball reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • imanoangel17
    March 2, 2007
    The title comes from a custom in medieval England where prisoners awaiting execution were called monsters. The night before their execution, their jailers would hold a feast known as a monster's ball as their final farewell. For those who don't know what monster's ball is.
  • onr29
    October 25, 2006
    (5 stars for the sex scene)..for those with no sense of humour..LOL
  • onr29
    October 25, 2006
    5 stars... oh & the movies good too!!:P...HaHaHa!!!
  • Scottman22
    June 21, 2006
    Good thing Halle Berry had a super hot sex scene or this movie would not be worth seeing but because of it I've seen the movie a thousand times!!

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Monster's Ball Trivia


  • what actress won an oscar for her role in Monsters Ball?  Answer »
  • Which actress can be accredited to these movies? X-men Monsters Ball Swordfish Catwoman Die Anothe rDay   Answer »
  • Which actor played Billy Bob Thorton's son in Monster's Ball?  Answer »
  • Who starred as Halle Berry's husband on deathrow in the movie Monster's Ball?  Answer »

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