I avoided this flic when it first came out due to the reviews which concentrated on the 'cynicism'and 'edgyness' of the effort. It is crude.It is rude.And is is filled with enough 4-letter words to be its own zone of bad taste. Know what else? Billy Bob Thorton is masterful as is the rest of the cast.There are no 'heroes',but Billy Bob is not exactly an anti-hero either.He portrays a broken,dysfunctional loser who holds nothing in contempt so much as himself.Desiring nothing so much as extinction,he rambles through life hating EVERYTHING. But it's Christmas,and even for losers third,fourth,fifth,or 50th chances sometimes show up.Watching Billy Bob's character 'grow-up'during the film is surprisingly heartwarming.For a broken man,he does the best he can once he allows himself to 'give-a-damm'. See this for his performance(and the rest of the cast),and be surprised.
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trickydicky8 January 2005
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SnoopyStyle22 December 2013Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is a drunk who plays store Santa for Christmas. He and his partner-in-crime Marcus (Tony Cox) case out the department store where they work and rob it on Christmas Eve every year. Willie befriends a chubby loner boy (Brett Kelly), and bartender Sue (Lauren Graham) who has Santa issues. Then store manager Gin (Bernie Mac) muscles in on their action.
Bad Santa is demented and destructive. Billy Bob Thornton goes over the edge, and Tony Cox goes right along with him. This is no Christmas special. And I love the kid Brett Kelly. He isn't your average adorable little kid. He's your average loser kid. That makes their friendship so much better. This is a great black Christmas. -
sfwriter99920 October 2004I saw the trailers and knew what I was in for when I went to see Bad Santa. It's not Nice Santa or Naughty Santa, but BAAADD SANTA, horribly drunk and disorderly Santa. Rude and Crude Santa.
I laughed until tears streamed down my face.
There is a lot of sexual situations and profanity, but you have to look past it. Those sensitive to foul language should not watch this movie nor FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. This is not a kiddie movie, but a movie made for adults.
Compared to ELF, SANTA CLAUSE, and a whole raft of other so-so Christmas related comedies, this is one of the best. Most holiday humor movies are always on the lightside with an eye to the children market during the holidays. This one ranks in there with A Christmas STORY and PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES and THE GRINCH WHO STOLE Christmas (cartoon version).
BAD SANTA is Christmas at its darkest, full of profanity, bad people, and evil deeds. But at the heart of it is a small bit of caring by one Bad Santa. -
Det_McNulty24 June 2007Typically, around Christmas you will find yourself watching a generic, feel-good, moralistic "Christmas movie", Bad Santa is the "reversed" version of the Christmas genre. For those of you who are fed-up with clichéd Christmas films, Bad Santa is the perfect film for you, as it is an entirely altered perception of a now-consumerist holiday. No, Bad Santa is not It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and nor is it Home Alone, yet it still incorporates features from all of those films and that is what makes it such a special take on the Winter holiday.
Willie (played by Billy Bob Thornton) is a perverted, alcoholic, part-time conman, who during the Christmas season indolently works in shopping malls with his fellow criminal in disguise, Marcus (Tony Cox). Willie dresses as Santa, while Marcus (the more professional of the pair) acts the elf, due to his height. Throughout the tedious Christmas period, the pair use their job at the mall to exploit the opportunity to rob the store overnight. While working at a mall in Arizona, Willie meets a child who teaches him the meaning of Christmas, whilst falling in love with an attractive waitress and having law-enforcement hot on his trail.
When a film starts off with a guy in a Santa outfit, sitting at a bar, drinking his life away you know you are not watching your average tale of "good tidings". From the crude opening narration, to the wonderfully inflated finale, Bad Santa is a taste of comedic genius. Billy Bob Thornton performs as a crude, dishonest cynic who hates everyone and everything. Bringing comedic energy and offensive characteristics to his character he impeccably balances the grumpy scrooge of Christmas with heart. I honestly believe that Billy Bob Thornton's performance in Bad Santa was worthy of an Oscar nomination.
It is not a case of whether you are a lover of Christmas or not although, it would come as an advantage when viewing the film- as Bad Santa is continually entertaining and at times, even charming. Through its witty script, fuelled by grumpy, drunken humour it is almost impossible not to become entranced by the inconsiderate lines of raucous profanity. Director, Terry Zwigoff proves his quirky talent once again, after the success of 2000's Ghost World. Bad Santa is comedic bliss and a highly recommended comedy for fans of something a little more extreme than the average, feel-good Hollywood extravaganza. -
mazingol24 September 2004I think this movie was great. It has hilarious humour and its almost an unique growth story of a man that has grown tired of his miserable life and finds something worth fighting for.
The thing that bothers me is that some people criticize the film cause it has too bad language. In my opinion the used language is important part of the film. I wouldn't find the characters very "authentic" if they wouldn't use the kind of language they do.
Maybe its part of modern trend. People are shocked if somebody swears or shows a breast in TV and after that they go see some idiotic TV series or action movie where they kill 1000 people and not even blink.
Is the message "violence is OK, but sex/nudity and swearing is not" somehow logical? I think in the real life its quite the opposite. -
dpolwatte8 December 2018An extreme end to christmas comedy genre. It's so vulgar it makes you puke. It's so dark and makes you laugh to things you never wants to laugh but you'll still laugh anyway.
It's innovative cinematic style that embeds Tarantino, Ritchie and many darkly comic film makers makes this a unique gem of a film.
Characters are amazing. Style and film making is exceptional. Still it's a cinematic experience. And a fresh one at that.
Overall - 3.5/5 -
When I first saw the trailer for this film I thought that it was basically just gonna be a funny little dark comedy that would be a nice distraction from the annoying family movies that are being dumped into theaters around this time. However, leaving the theater after watching this, I discovered how much more it was than what I was expecting. Instead a good movie, I got a great one, with good direction and a wonderful script and, best of all, the performance of Billy Bob Thornton, who makes the film what it is. His foulmouthed, cynical, suicidal character might look two-dimensional on paper and, had another actor taken a stab at this role, come off as forced and tiresome, but Thornton finds just the right blend of humor and reality. The film is touching, but not on the surface. Many viewers will not get it; they'll see this film as a vulgar assault on the Christmas spirit, and, in a way, it is, but deeper than that there is a story here about a man who has lost all faith in the human race and has now been restored. Without being sappy, unlike almost any other film I've ever seen, "Bad Santa" is able to make this an emotional journey for a contemptable character, get us to like him, and disguise it behind dark, sick humor. It's a masterpiece of dark comedy and the best holiday film of the last 5 years. **** out of ****
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RossWrock29 December 2004Forget Jimmy Stewart and that claymation crap! If you like Christmas movies with more of an edge and lots of comedy however, "Bad Santa" might just be your new favorite holiday movie. In my mind, usurping "A Christmas Story" and "Scrooged" as the funniest holiday movie yet, Bad Santa (or BS as I like to call it) pulls no punches as it delivers a raunchy, yet funny, and yes, even a little bit of a touching film.
Billy Bob Thorton is a drinking, fornicating, defecating thief who freeloads for the whole year, only to work 25 days in December while robbing a mall of all it's holiday proceeds. His partner in crime is Tony Cox, Santa's little person helper who keeps him sober and lucid enough through the season to not royally screw things up.
I won't go into details, because frankly the plot needs work. But the acting is superb, the script hysterical, and the unbelievable jokes and inappropriate situations are just so entertaining you won't care about anything else.
Bernie Mac and Lauren Graham deliver polished supporting roles, as does John Ritter in his final film role before his death. The kid doesn't have many lines (and I want to slap him for the ones he does deliver), but just looking at him makes me laugh, so I can't complain there.
Basically, this is the ultimate inappropriate Christmas movie; one that makes you stand up and scream, "Holly s*!t I can't believe they did that!" This movie is just so blatantly wrong, the only other film I can compare it to is "South Park: The Movie." Just as South Park crosses every line of decency that previously existed, so does BS. A great movie because of it? Hell no. But a funny and entertaining one? Hell yes! -
=G=23 June 2004He drinks and smokes and pukes and wets his pants and has sex in public places. He has a horrible attitude, a trash mouth, is mean to little kids, hates himself, and robs department stores. Ok, so he's not all bad, but he is without a doubt the worst department store Santa ever. There's not a lot of stretching required of Thornton to get into character in this flick which capitalizes on the grosser than gross sense of comedy/humor as it wends its way through a simple tale about a scamming Santa and his dwarf/elf sidekick who rip off a department store a year to avoid honest toil. A mildly creative love it or hate it flick which tries as hard to be disgusting as funny, "Bad Santa" has, for obvious reasons, received mixed reviews. Only for the thick skinned who aren't easily offended by bad language, bad attitudes, or bad, bad Santas. (B)
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idiopath23 December 2004Hilarious from start to finish, this movie covers the story of an alcoholic safe cracker who works as a shopping mall Santa to steal money from the mall on Christmas eve. The concept of the movie is simple and the script is razor sharp with well drawn characters enhanced by faultless performances throughout. As with all good comedies, the material is inspired but it's the delivery that makes it unforgettable. Thornton proves that when it comes to Dead-pan comedy, there's no one better! His performance alone would be enough to make this film good but the fact that his high standards are maintained by the rest of the cast elevates it to a classic.
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naaarfDE3 February 2019Billy Bob Thornton gives a stellar performance in a seemingly tailor-made role. BAD SANTA is a fun, subversive movie that ultimately is more tragic than funny. "Hurt people hurt people" is the cynically portrayed - but with truth in it's core - moral of the story.
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The ultimate hilarious adult treat with glorious lines throughout! I've laughed so hard from Bad Santa that my face has turned red it's quite enticing. I'm shocked this isn't in the top Christmas lists from what I've seen barely anyone mentioned it. So much madness packed in raunchiness, foul, great Christmas music, and relentlessly enjoyable probably seen nearly 40 times. I so love this movie and it's amazing that Billy Bob Thornton really got drunk for the role.
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ironhorse_iv26 December 2019This holiday dark comedy stars Billy Bob Thornton as an alcoholic bitter & depress criminal Willie Stokes who works with his dwarf assistant Marcus Skidmore (Tony Cox) as Mall Santa in order to gain access to rob the mall on Christmas Eve. However they soon run into trouble when Strokes starts to rethink his life after befriending a naive innocent child, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly) who assumes Willie is really the real jolly St. Nick. Without spoiling the flick directed by Terry Zwigoff too much. With extreme violent, excessive profanity, sexual innuendo and lots of drug use, this film is probably not the best Christmas flick to show to children during the holiday season. It's the polar opposite, suitable only for adult viewers. Anybody with eyes can see that with the very obvious title. Bad Santa means Bad Santa. Thornton really does live up to the job title with his repulsive foul mouthed, drunk & promiscuity character even if it seems like he's not acting much different than what he does in real life in the eyes of the public. In truth at the time while Thornton does struggles with liquor and was genuinely intoxicated during some of scenes. One thing he did take seriously was his health toward food. He follow a very strict vegan diet and avoided junk food as he is allergic to wheat and dairy. Hints why Stokes is mostly seen eating salad in the film. While it might seem out of character for the criminal not consume fatty foods. Thornton does makes the salad eating works with spitting out greens when yelling at people. I never once saw a person look so ugly looking when chomping on the stuff. Nevertheless this role gave him the persona of the wasted up antihero that he would later be typecast as in films such as 2005 'Bad News Bear'. Like that, this movie also paint his character enough with decent qualities so that the audience wouldn't be turn off by the individual's mostly selfish offensive actions and mental health issues. Under Dimension Films, with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa writing the screenplay, they made Stokes into a somewhat of a likeable character by having him interact more with Thurman in a fatherly matter than the directors or the producers the Coen Brother's version of the script. It really help the movie a lot. The on-screen chemistry between Kelly and Thornton was surprising very good. The way Thurman doesn't reacted to Strokes negative bellowing while keeping his innocent dumb founded look is pretty damn funny. Kelly was an amazing child actor. That's why the original version is a lot better than the Director's cut or the Unrated Version that focus too much on several pointless scenes of non-needed for the plot Lauren Tom character scouting the stores for loot or offensive jokes that doesn't land like the out of the blue parking lot attacked by a Hindustani hoodlum played by Ajay Naidu. Regardless in nearly all versions, the movie does take a little bit too long to establish Stokes backstory. Honestly did we need the opening monologue nor those vacations scenes in Miami, Florida? It felt out of place and not needed, seeing how things get repeated by Marcus quite often about his troubles. Those moments felt like filler. Nevertheless, I felt the same way with the relationship Strokes had with the nympho bartender Sue (Lauren Graham). It didn't really led much to anything. Also the relationship was really hard to believe as the character of Willie is completely repulsive and doesn't really look like Santa. Plus, its' not like he's loyal to her. He still sleeps around. Regardless, the actress did a good job with her limited one dimensional pixie maniac girl dream girl role. As for Strokes relationship with Marcus. I found Cox & Thornton to have great chemistry as partners in crime. The way Cox reaction in shock and disgust of Willie's actions felt real. Even with his intense scenes with Bernie Mac character of Gin Slagel Mall Security seem genuine. I love that moment when Gin whispers 'half'. I get goosebumps every time. Bernie Mac was equally as impressive. He does seem intimidating during the first half. I just wish the screenwriters didn't make him look like an idiot in the last part of the film because it killed compelling smart top of his game look that Mac was really reaching for in the beginning. As for John Ritter as the mall's general manager Mr. Chipeska. He shines as the upright prissy highly anxious foil to the duo's schemes. It's just sad that Ritter died, just a few months after taking this role. Glad to see that this film was dedicated to the actor. I also did that both the beginning and end play Chopin's "Nocturne'. It sounds so peaceful after all the chaotic. Overall: This movie found just the right tone for its dark, vulgar humor that its 2016 sequel fail to do. There's no question that some viewers will still find 'Bad Santa' to crude and irreverent. But while some might be shocked and disgusted, others will find themselves laughing all the way through this unconventional Christmas tale. For those like me that like it. I say go fix some sandwiches & see this movie. This is one St. Nick that doesn't deserves to be eternally banished to the icy nether regions of the North Pole.
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view_and_review5 March 2007I'm no ultra-conservative, nor am I an artsy film type that sticks his nose up at anything that isn't perfectly written, directed, and acted out... but this movie was just trash. Not only was the comedy not funny, but it was just as vulgar as ever (or maybe that was supposed to be the appeal of the movie). And it wasn't vulgar in a clever way, but it was just straight up, undiluted, unadulterated crass humor. I attempted to watch this movie twice, just to see what so many people were raving about, and both times I had to cut it off. Although I'm not fond of foul language and sexual humor, I can stomach it in small doses, and even medium sized doses if it's done right. This movie, on the other hand, just took vulgarity and low life-ness (pardon my neologism) to the Nth degree. I gave the movie a shot, I tried to ride it out, but in the end it just wasn't my cup of tea.
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tieman642 December 2009One of the funniest comedies in recent years, "Bad Santa" benefits hugely from the inputs of Terry Zwigoff and the Coen brothers.
The idea here is simple: take all the tropes of the Christmas family movie (and a couple nods to Chaplin's "The Kid") and pervert them, inserting lots of mean spirited jokes, swearing, sexual innuendos and bitterness. It's the kind of thing "Reindeer Games" aspired too, but Zwigoff's film comes across far better.
8/10 - Filled with funny lines and a great central performance by Billy Bob Thornton, this is the classiest foul mouthed comedy since "The Big Lebowski".
Worth two viewings. -
claudio_carvalho27 December 2005The drunkard Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and his partner, the midget Marcus (Tony Cox), work once a year, near Christmas, dressed like Santa Claus and his helper elf in department stores. However, their intent is to rob the place in the Christmas Eve. When Willie meets a lonely fat boy (Brett Kelly) and the hot bartender Sue (Lauren Graham), he learns the meaning of Christmas and gets in trouble.
"Bad Santa" is a gem of black humor, and certainly one of the most "politically incorrect" movies I have ever seen. Imagine a drunkard outrageous Santa Claus cursing children, having "unconventional" sex with fat ladies, stealing safes in department stores in the Christmas Eve, lying to everybody, beating children and pissing on the clothes and chair of Santa Claus. Billy Bob Thornton does all of these bad things (and more) while working dressed as Santa Claus along a couple of days before Christmas. Further, all the characters of this movie are corrupt somehow or stupid. The hilarious happy ending is not so happy and I really liked this movie a lot. This movie is dedicated to John Ritter, who plays the manager of a department store, in his last work on the screen. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Papai Noel às Avessas" ("Santa Claus Backwards") -
marcosaguado28 April 2005Billy Bob Thornton has found his Josef Von Sternberg in Terry Zwigoff. As a revolting, immoral, insignificant Santa, Billy Bob is a wonder. His face is a moving, disturbing, hysterical reflection of his awareness. His life sucks. The cut from Miami to Billy Bob and his partner walking down the street in their Christmas costumes is, on its own, worth the price of admission. Terry Zwigoff has transformed the crumbs of society into a sophisticated, adult, art form. Billy Bob and his sensational young co star Brett Kelly create characters never seen before on the screen and as a consequence we cling on to their every nuance, incapable to predict what could happen next. That in itself makes Bad Santa a very welcome surprise and a great time at the movies.
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acedj18 November 2019This movie is often as sad as it is funny. Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie, a professional thief that uses a job posing as Santa to rob malls, along with his Marcus, a little person that plays the elf and brains of the group. Willie is a hard core alcoholic and is seen pissing himself more often than not. This is not a feel good kind of movie, though there are some touching moments between Willie and a kid that he sort of unofficially adopts for sake of a place to stay. As I said earlier though, there is a shadow of sadness over this movie as it does touch on the reality of life around the holidays and how difficult it is for some people to cope. This is a good movie that is a yearly holiday watch for me.
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The first time I saw Terry Zwigoff's latest effort (co-executive produced by the Coen brothers) Bad Santa, I didn't know whether I was watching a comedy that had astonishingly funny and madcap moments, or if it was a really bad movie. At times the script felt like it was under the penmanship of demented cretins off loan of some low-rent porno company. But there were scenes and moments with good old Billy Bob Thornton that had me laughing uncontrollably, so I decided to see it again recently. Now I understand it- this is a dig-in nails, ribald, hardcore satirical look at one (un-kept is a term used loosely) man in the midst of Americana during Christmas time.
This man is Willie, played by Billy Bob, as something of a loser, low-self esteem, boozing, cursing, and a thief, though only at Christmas time. In a sense he's a modern day pirate without a shave, though with a yearly plan to rob a large store in a given mall he's given a job at with his co-patriot Marcus (Tony Cox, whom you may recall from uproarious bit parts in Friday and Me, Myself, and Irene). In one season, however, he meets a Kid (Brent Kelly), who for some reason looks up to this con-man in a red suit, giving him a place to stay in turn (never asked for) for some advice and help with bullies and self-esteem. On the first viewing of Bad Santa, along with not knowing whether I was seeing a good or bad film, I didn't know whether Billy Bob was pushing the 'rotten-dude' envelope over the top or just right. This may be a problem for most viewers going to see it once and not thinking of seeing it again.
But I think Bad Santa is one of those movies that merits a repeat viewing- you may laugh less or harder at certain jokes and moments of outrageousness, some may fly over your head completely or make you go "eww". Yet I think the brilliant aspect about Bad Santa is it never takes itself a bit too seriously. Even in the denouement, when we are sort of assured things will turn out alright; it's like a denouement on a South Park episode. In fact, that's something that can be said about Bad Santa, is that it feels like a work in the vein of Parker and Stone, but since it's from the director of Ghost World it comes off a little fresher, with an appeal all its own. -
Horror-yo2 March 2017It starts slow. Everything the movie seems to be about is incorporated very quickly and nothing new happens for a bit of a while and the comedy isn't where it should be during that time. Then, it picks up.
This is a cold, verbally and sexually explicit dark comedy that is probably a little bit too cynical in tone, but that holds itself up just about well enough all in all.
There's certainly a sense of lingering and repetition, with the constant redundant swearing, scenes that are practically built off facile swearing dialog lines, but if one persists enough there's a pretty fun plot at the center of it, a sort of anti-Christmas Christmas magic about it with the kid and the relationship he builds with 'Santa', pretty funny secondary characters like the late Ritter (major stuckup), the late Bernie Mac or Naidu's hilariously random and unnecessary cameo scene.
There's even something of a moral at the end. It's fun, coherent but lacks a bit of content even for a comedy running at 1hr30min.
6.5/10. -
jiraf28 December 2004This is one of the best Christmas movie of all times. The casting is brilliant, and the chemistry between all the characters is very much present.
Billy Bob Thornton was especially funny as the loser in life who dons the red suit every Christmas. Just seeing Santa behaving drunken and swearing every other word tells you how different this is from the typical Christmas family friendly movies.
Bernie Mac was funny in his supporting role, and Tony Cox was OK. Billy Bob was phenomenal.
I've watched this movie twice already this Christmas season, and I loved every minute of it. -
No this isn't a National Lampoon movie although you could easily be fooled into thinking that with this title. As you might have expected this is a Christmas set film and its about a naughty Santa character. Again you could easily be fooled into thinking this is a silly kids movie with lots of fart gags...but no, its actually a black comedy and most definitely for the grown ups.
The whole point of this film is the ever so slight redemption of the main character played by Thornton. This guy is a low down permanently drunk criminal who drags his way through life whilst robbing department stores with his dwarf partner. The dubious duo take yearly jobs as a department store Santa and his elf worker, this way they get to know the ins and outs of the store so they can easily rob it. Things change for Thornton's character 'Stokes' when he meets a tubby little boy who he kinda befriends and takes a shine to...eventually.
This film is kinda unique in the sense that the main character has many flaws and issues which you tend to think he will sort out at some point by the end of the film. The twist and funny part is he doesn't really change at all, he does a little bit with the help of his little fat young friend, but not too much really, he still ends up as the same bum. The amusing things about the film are the constant little moments where Thornton's character gets angry or frustrated with the fat kid and swears at him. The little fat kid (eerily played by Kelly) seems to be a bit slow and just takes the abuse, in one ear and out the other. At times it can be very funny to watch these outbursts yet at other times you do feel sorry for the kid or Stokes because you know he sometimes doesn't mean it.
The heist aspect of the film is quite good and offers some reasonably tense moments, especially near the end. The various Santa sequences are probably the films highlights as we see Thornton getting sneezed and coughed on by lots of pant wetting tots. Of course his reactions and the way he treats the kids are the best bits, he basically sneers growls and scowls at them, finally nudging them off his knee and virtually kicking them to the curb. Watching the reactions of the parents is great, as a man pushing 40 and with no kids I love it, if I was a parent I might feel differently I guess who knows.
The darkest sequence must be when a severely sozzled Stokes crawls up the escalator towards his Santa grotto. His beard and clothes now filthy stained and damaged, he looks like crap, can hardly walk and promptly falls into a reindeer display. This whole sequence starts out funny but descends into a more cringeworthy incident as he freaks out and starts to smash up the Xmas display in front of everyone in the store, its still amusing but also poignant and depressing...much like the plot as a whole really.
The finale was a tad of a let down for me, it does seem like you're gonna get the predictable ending where Stokes will die trying to achieve a small slice of decency in his life, the right ending. A bit like the finale in 'The Wrestler' where Rourke's character goes out doing what he loves but also reclaiming a small part of his dignity right at the end. Even though this ending is predictable as I said, I think it would have been stronger for obvious reasons. Instead Stokes lives on and we get some mumbo jumbo about how he survived and what he plans to do after he heals up. This simply feels like an open ending so they can roll out a sequel which this film really doesn't need in my opinion, if it happens that is. I think it should have wrapped up there and then.
All in all I like how this is basically an anti-Christmas flick which sticks two fingers up at the sweet yuletide greetings side of it and embraces the Scrooge side with extreme profanity. Its not exactly original in idea, the drunk rude Santa schtick has been done before but you can't deny its amusing. Crude rude edgy and drenched in cynicism...but there is a soft warm heart buried deep in there and it just about manages to shine through in the end.
7/10 -
Sunsphxsuns26 October 2021OMG where to begin with this one? I've written several reviews on holiday films, but none of the movies I discussed were anything like Bad Santa. It's really in its own wonderfully demented category. But don't take that as a referendum that I wouldn't highly recommend this movie. Quite the contrary, I love this crazy film! You MUST see it!
One of several outstanding Christmas comedy films, Bad Santa is definitely one of the darkest. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the film has admirable pacing. Its main star power comes from Billy Bob Thornton, with spectacularly hilarious and unforgettable performances by Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, with completely over the top performances by John Ritter and Bernie Mac. Sadly, Ritter passed away September 11, 2003, only a few months before Bad Santa premiered in November. Just as sad, Bernie Mac would pass away 5 years later on August 9, 2008. Their performances in this film remain legendary.
Not surprisingly Bad Santa was an immediate critical and commercial success. It made money and eventually spawned a far less ambitious sequel 13 years later, Bad Santa 2, released in 2016.
Like another holiday film I reviewed (2020's Fatman) Bad Santa isn't about your typical Santa Claus. Indeed, Mel Gibson's Fatman Santa actually possesses some magical abilities and still delivers toys to the world's good behaving children. The only trait Billy Bob's Santa has in common with Gibson's character is the apparent insatiable desire to be continuously flat out drunk.
No spoilers here. I can only reveal that Bad Santa is a depressed, hard drinking safecracker who poses each year as a store Santa Claus before eventually relieving his employer of all the money in their safe. Bad Santa teams with an elf, too, named Marcus. The elf is the brains of the thieving duo, played by Tony Cox, who is so good in his role you wish he had even more lines.
Bad Santa, like Fatman, casually destroys the sensitive parameters which define mainstream holiday movies. There's quite a lot of toilet humor here, but it's executed so deftly by the actors that you will definitely want to add it to your short list of "must see" Christmas films! -
Antagonisten10 January 2005I had heard a lot of good things about "Bad Santa" before finally going to the theater to see it. For some reason the release of this film was postponed to the Christmas of 2004 where i live so i had heard quite a lot of buzz about it almost a whole year before.
Willie is a miserable and drunk Santa Claus. He works in shopping malls every Christmas even though he hates children. What drives him though is not the Christmas spirit, rather the robberies that he and his elf henchman perform every Christmas. Every year a new town, every year a new robbery. And this year is no different, even though things are going to change before the end...
Billy Bob Thornton is in my opinion the main reason why this movie works at all. He is perfect as the sour, heavily drinking and swearing Santa Claus. And i don't know when i last saw a movie where there was so much cursing going on towards children. And this is maybe also the problem this movie faces. How do you find the right level? How far do you take it before it's not even funny any more, just insulting. I feel that most of the time this movie hits the spot and manages to stay on the right side of that border. But of course there are occasions where the character Willie just becomes obnoxious.
Maybe what i appreciate most is the deviation from the usual Christmas movie that "Bad Santa" provides. It's actually a movie released at Christmas, featuring someone who hates Christmas, that doesn't end in an overly cute way. Rather the ending fits the movie quite well without becoming sugar-sweet.
I rate this 6/10. -
robert23713 December 2003Ask three naughty third graders to write a script involving and drunken santa and a thieving side kick and there you have it. Make sure to give it an R rating to attract more teens. Plenty of cussing, screwing, and vomiting. No plot but who needs one? My only fear is they left it open so there might be a sequeal. At least I won't make the same mistake twice.