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Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs ... see more see more... , Mos Def , Will Rokos , Milo Addica , Coronji Calhoun , Charles Cowan Jr. , Taylor LaGrange , Bernard "Bunchy" Johnson

Director Marc Forster, winner of Best Feature at Slamdance for his debut film Loungers (1996) and the "Someone to Watch" Independent Spirit Award for his indie drama Everything Put Together (2000), fo... read more read more...llows up those acclaimed projects with this intense, racially charged romance. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Georgia prison guard Hank Grotowski, a hard-drinking racist ex-cop whose father, Buck (Peter Boyle), is dying of emphysema and whose son, Sonny (Heath Ledger), works the execution detail at the prison's death row. When Sonny commits suicide, Hank is devastated and quits his job, spiraling into a deep depression until, one night, he comes to the aid of Leticia (Halle Berry), a beautiful African-American woman whose son, Tyrell (Coronji Calhoun), has been hit by a car. When Tyrell dies, Leticia and Hank find themselves to be unexpected soul mates linked together by tragic grief. It's not long before Hank discovers that Leticia is the widow of Lawrence Musgrove (Sean Combs), the man whose execution by electric chair he and his late son helped to orchestrate. Monster's Ball (2001) is based on a screenplay by actors Milo Addica and Will Rokos, who spent five years developing their script into a feature. Their title refers to the name of an English tradition requiring jailers to throw a party for a condemned man on the night before his death. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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65% liked it

54,458 ratings

Critics

85% liked it

142 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: 2,720 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,720)

  • DreamExtractor
    October 1, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    Monster Ball is a creepy and emotional film that gave me a lot of respect for Halle Berry as she plays a incredible role, and the story was also very interesting and great, I really enjoyed Monster Ball.
  • stevenecarrier
    June 18, 2011
    stevenecarrier
    "Monster's Ball" is at once a overwrought and grating film while also managing to be complex and rewarding. What ultimately makes the film work is the fatalistic nature of the narrative. The performances are solid all around, with Billy Bob Thornton, Peter Boyle and Heath Ledger ... read morefulfilling completely different physical representations of masculinity. Halle Berry on the other hand, who delivers a raw, ugly and risky performance is more admirable for the places she tries to go than what she actually achieves. Berry is the first African American to ever be awarded an Oscar for Best Actress and the accolade is not entirely deserved here, in my opinion. Still, "Monster's Ball" has an intriguing script and daring performances, two things that always warrant at least one viewing of a film.
  • TheGame90
    August 23, 2010
    TheGame90
    I don't know.....It wasn't really that good....Puff/P/Puffy was pretty impresive....but then he died....Heath Ledger was also pretty impresive....then he died too.....then there wasn't really too much fun left. The story wasn't really told in a good way
  • 76Majikat
    December 22, 2009
    76Majikat
    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!
  • flixsterman
    December 9, 2009
    flixsterman
    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 morethat 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.
  • SirPant
    September 24, 2009
    SirPant
    Frankenstein?s testicle. Joking, this is a very entertaining film, brilliantly played by Billy Bob Thornton.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    April 8, 2009
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "A lifetime of change can happen in a single moment."

    After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard reexamines his attitudes while falling in love with the African American wife of the last prisoner he executed.

    REVIEW<
    ... read more/b>
    Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton do an outstanding job in this opulently photographed chronicle of generational hatred. The entire supporting cast is rock solid, including Peter Boyle as the bilious, crumbling paterfamilias who gets his just desserts. If there is anything wrong with the movie it is in its lack of foundation for the rapid shelving of entrenched attitudes, as well as instant intoxication from a nip of Jack Daniels and its almost overdone cleverness. A little suspension of disbelief is needed, but this film is merciful salvation from the endless procession of sappy or exploding car movies. The viewer is rewarded with a realistic and honest ending.
  • fb619846742
    December 25, 2008
    fb619846742
    A solid movie concerning a prison guard looking to rid himself of his father's feelings and practices that he's put into place in his own life. This film is full of rich performances, especially from Thornton, Berry, Ledger, and a scene-stealing Boyle. What keeps it from being a ... read moregreat movie is that it feels too disaster-prone at times, pretty much anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong, but that doesn't keep it from being a good character study.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    June 27, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Two stars just for Halle Berry's boobs and P Diddy getting executed. The rest is corny tv melodrama.
  • garyX
    June 14, 2008
    garyX
    A series of (perhaps overly contrived) tragic events bring together an ex-corrections officer and the widow of a man he had a hand in executing in a thoughtful and well-written drama of finding redemption in breaking with the destructive influences of the past. Billy Bob Thornton... read more gives a typically sturdy performance complimented by oscar winner Halle Berry, but it is Peter Boyle's decrepit yet still belligerently obnoxious patriarch that is the scene stealer. Actually, my main gripe lies in the casting of Berry, because as good as she is, and as crucial to the story the infamous sex scene is, having such a strikingly attractive woman involved can only lead to titillation; as a result the scene feels rather like high end porn. The script also reminded me of Crash in that although well written and thoughtful, it all seemed a little too convenient and all the events leading up to the couple's relationship just felt like the means to an end rather than a believable story. Having said that, it's a sensitively told tale that is nowhere near as depressing as it sounds. That and you get to see Sean "Puffy"/"Puff Daddy"/"P. Diddy"/"talentless twatbag" Combs deep-fried into the bargain. Back of the net!

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Critic Reviews

Jeff Strickler
November 6, 2002
Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune

It's not a polemic on the death penalty, race relations or family dynamics. It's a character study that really sticks with you. Full Review

Mark Caro
July 20, 2002
Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune

A serious movie made by seriously talented people, and I never quite came 'round to it. Full Review

Bill Muller
March 4, 2002
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

A textbook example of fearless filmmaking, exhibiting a brand of gritty realism that's hard to watch but impossible to ignore.

Stephen Hunter
February 16, 2002
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

[Forster] tells his story with directness and simplicity and without the high hallmarks of the soaps' gooey emotional lubrication.

James Berardinelli
February 10, 2002
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

A powerful and poignant motion picture not about racism and redemption, as one might initially suppose, but about one of the most urgent and universal of human needs -- that of finding solace for pain... Full Review

Joe Baltake
February 8, 2002
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Monster's Ball drills at us the same way a dentist goes at your teeth, creating pain but for a greater good. Full Review

Eric Harrison
February 8, 2002
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

The script has a schematic feel and the emblematic character types typical of the work of young writers, particularly those who have something to say and aren't just trying to make a buck. Full Review

Susan Stark
February 8, 2002
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Disturbing, provocative and, finally, tentatively encouraging, Monster's Ball brings subtlety and quiet conviction to the kind of story routinely exploited on the big screen.

Terry Lawson
February 8, 2002
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

The acting is so good in Monster's Ball, and the understated but intense mood so skillfully maintained, that we tend to overlook the story's contrivances. Full Review

Steven Rosen
February 8, 2002
Steven Rosen, Denver Post

Monster's Ball shows that convincing acting and a detailed, developed sense of place can make a story not only believable but moving. Full Review

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Facts

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    • Hank Grotowski: I think we're going to be alright.
    • Sonny Grotowski: You hate me. Answer me! You hate me don't you?!
    • Hank Grotowski: Yes, I hate you. I always did.
    • Sonny Grotowski: Well I always loved you. [shoots himself]
    • Lawrence Musgrove: I've always believed that a portrait captures a person far better than a photograph. It truly takes a human being to really see a human being.
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