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Bad Santa is the antidote to the cheerful Christmas films that come out like clockwork every November-December. Billy Bob Thornton plays an unlovable loser named Willie. He’s a stinking drunk and a womanizer who has absolutely nothing going for him in life. As his dwarf sidekick/partner in crime, Marcus (Tony Cox), says late in the film, “Everything about you is ugly!” About the only thing that he does well is crack safes. For the past seven years, Willie and Marcus have posed as a mall Santa and an elf, all the while casing the joint in hopes of robbing it on Christmas Eve. Every year, they make out with a hefty bounty of cash, splitting it evenly. While Marcus makes his money stretch, Willie pisses it all away on booze and women. By the time Christmas rolls around the following year, he will be broke and ready to knock off another mall.
Considering that he is a drunk, with no apparent manners or discipline, playing Santa Claus and interacting with children is the worst possible idea. This is proven as he curses at them and dismisses them as if they were defective parts coming off an assembly line. But it’s a brilliant scheme since he and Marcus work as a pair, Marcus being the selling point since most little people see playing an elf as degrading. Immediately, the painfully soft mall manager (John Ritter) is skeptical and fearful of keeping the disorderly Santa around. Along with the mall’s head of security, the orange sucking, ever-eccentric Gin (Bernie Mac), they plot the duo’s every move.
Willie meets a tragically pathetic little boy, known throughout the film as just The Kid (Brett Kelly), while doing his Santa duties. The Kid is a painfully easy target, with his ample weight and kinky, curly blonde hair. His clothes cling to him like Saran Wrap on a ham. He takes beatings from the skateboarders who hang out at the mall, who are really not all that cool themselves, just to give you an idea where this poor kid ranks on the social food chain. The boy’s father is “exploring the mountains and won’t be back until next year” and his mother is dead, so he lives with his senile grandmother (Cloris Leachman) in his parents large, fancy home. The Kid’s desperate for attention and love and mistakes Willie for someone that may actually care for him. Willie plays off the kid’s desperation and his unknowing grandmother, working his way into their home when he discovers the police are on his trail for the burglaries.
With the patience of Marcus wearing thin, his alcoholism growing worse and the police and Gin hot on his trail, things for Willie become bleaker by the day. Just when it seems like things can’t be any worse, it could take the admiration of The Kid to save the unsaveable (Yeah, I know it’s not a @#%& word. What in the *%8$ do you think I am? A *&@# professional?)
This film definitely has it’s own audience and the makers of the film knew that by the way they marketed it. This is for the cynical, the rude and the brash, those with thick skin and a nasty sense of humor, but with some deep down humanity to balance things out. I think I fit nicely into that category because I LOVED this film. The humor is blistering in this film. While it could be argued that there is a lot of vulgarity for vulgarity’s sake, I tend to disagree. It took that vulgarity to get to the heart of how awful Willie and Marcus really are. It took that vulgarity to show that there may be little or no morals in their big and small bodies. What’s an example of vulgarity for vulgarity’s sake? In the movie Action Jackson starring Carl “Apollo Creed” Weathers, his character is pick-pocketed by a juvenile thug. When the thug opens his wallet to realize he picked a cop’s pocket, the kid loudly says “F*ck a Duck!” Why would anyone say that?
The jokes in this film are spectacular. There are a couple of running gags that simply cracked me up at every appearance. Of course, the acting was great, as Thornton is born to play a loser of this caliber. And say what you will about foul language, I could listen to Thornton cuss all day long. Tony Cox was also very good in the film. His character’s turn towards the end is just simply evil. I have to mention Lauren Graham (TV’s Gilmore Girls), who plays a bartender with a thing for guys dressed like Santa Claus. She’s equal parts seductive and adorable. She and The Kid seem to bring out the best in Willie and make you realize that he may not be as bad a guy as he appears. Bernie Mac and John Ritter are hilarious just doing their thing. It’s as if the director (Terry Zwigoff) just gave them an idea of what he wanted and told them to play it at their discretion. Brilliant stuff. But Brett Kelly was the scene-stealer here. He breaks your heart by saying nothing or saying too much. He’s so terribly pathetic in the film that he practically brings you to tears. He’s frighteningly natural in the role.
Does this film have any redeeming social value? No. Does it help generate Christmas spirit? Not really. Is it a film anyone could enjoy? Definitely not. It’s just a damn fun time at the movies and a really great alternative to the cookie-cutter Christmas films that seem to hit dominate every year. If anything, it makes you laugh during a time of the year that many people don’t enjoy for one reason or another. So, I guess you could say, it may be a great holiday film.
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