Film

Nasty Habits

Name: Nasty Habits
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1977
Cast: Glenda Jackson, Melina Mercouri, Geraldine Page, Sandy Dennis, Anne Jackson

Comedy
Light-hearted

A 1977 comedy where two ambitious nuns scheme ruthlessly to become head abbess of their Philadelphia convent. It's a sharp, witty political satire wrapped in habits and holy water, built on a knockout ensemble cast firing on all cylinders. For anyone who loves comedy with teeth and actresses who can deliver a cutting line like it's scripture.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sharp, backbiting comedy of manners, where prim institutional rituals become the arena for a catty power struggle played with real relish by its cast.

Skip it if you want a fast, plot-driven farce; this one runs on talky scheming and wry asides, so the humour lands slowly and may feel thin if you need constant momentum.

What it asks of you: Ninety-six minutes of sustained wordplay and cutting exchanges, with little physical action, so you need to stay attentive to the dialogue to catch its jabs.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Trouble with Angels1966

A spirited convent comedy with Rosalind Russell that balances genuine affection for its setting with sharp observation of authority and rule-breaking. Lighter in tone but the same warmth under the mischief.

But The humour is gentler and more sentimental than Nasty Habits. If you want edge over charm, this softens the blow.

Lilies of the Field1963

Sidney Poitier and a group of German nuns building a chapel—a film about community and faith that finds comedy in the friction between culture and kindness, not malice. The rapport is genuine.

But It's earnest and hopeful in ways Nasty Habits resists. Less biting. More interested in redemption than in who wins.

The First Wives Club1996

Three women of a certain age plotting comeuppance with style and dark humour. Same energy—older actresses, sharp script, delicious schemes—just swap the convent for Manhattan society.

But Twenty years younger in its sensibility. Broader, more sentimental about female friendship, less interested in actual cruelty.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Nasty Habits

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Dekalog1989

Both use a closed world—convent, apartment block—as a crucible to watch people reveal what they're actually made of when the masks slip.

Kieślowski's ten-hour masterpiece set in a Warsaw apartment complex, each hour exploring one commandment through ordinary lives. It's funny and painful and dense and hypnotic. Like Nasty Habits but in an entirely different key—the same human appetites, the same collision between what we say we believe and what we actually do.

But Polish, from 1989, and deeply serious. Each episode is 55 minutes of Bergman-adjacent storytelling. Requires sustained attention and supplies no easy laughs.

In & Out1997

Kevin Kline in a small-town comedy about secrets and institutions that pretend to be something they're not. Nasty Habits' DNA—hypocrisy unravelled—but aimed at a mainstream audience.

But Earnest where Nasty Habits is cynical. The stakes feel lower and the lessons feel tidier.

The Producers1968

Mel Brooks' masterpiece: two schemers, impossible odds, a plot so baroque it loops back on itself. The same anarchic energy and the same pleasure in watching the system collapse from within.

But It's a musical and it's relentless—Brooks never lets up. Some find it exhausting rather than funny.

Eating Raoul1982

A couple's quiet schemes spiral into something unspeakable. It's mordant, audacious, and finds comedy in moral bankruptcy. Similar DNA: enclosed world, escalating stakes, characters with no real conscience.

But It's genuinely transgressive and weird in ways mainstream comedy isn't. The subject matter will unsettle people who think they want dark humour.

Becket1964

Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton as two men circling power and principle in a religious institution. Not a comedy, but the same pleasures: wit as a weapon, ambition as a motor, institutions under pressure.

But Grave and tragic. If you want Nasty Habits for the laughs, this trades the comedic timing for genuine stakes.

The Nun's Story1959

Audrey Hepburn wrestling faith, duty, and her own desires in a convent. It's earnest and searching in ways Nasty Habits deliberately isn't, but shares a fascination with the gap between what convents claim and what they are.

But Completely sincere. It respects its subject rather than picking it apart. Some will find that relief; others will find it slow.

Mädchen in Uniform1931

A German boarding school where rigid systems create hidden lives. It's about power, authority, and what women actually do when nobody's watching. A precursor to Nasty Habits' interest in female hierarchies.

But It's serious and formally distant. A landmark film but not a romp. Requires patience and subtitles if you want the original.

The Slap2015

Both are ensemble comedies built on the premise that ordinary people are far meaner and more selfish than they admit, and that social structures exist mainly to hide that fact.

An Australian miniseries where a slap at a dinner party detonates a whole community's hypocrisies and hidden resentments. Dark, funny, morally ambiguous, and built entirely on watching people scheme and justify and lie to each other. Nasty Habits' sensibility in a contemporary suburban setting.

But Uncomfortable and unglamorous. The humour lands in cringe rather than charm, and nobody learns anything. If you want everyone to grow by the end, this will frustrate you.