Bad Santa
Directed by: Terry Zwigoff
Written by: John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, The Coen Bros, Arnie Marx, Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, John Ritter, Tony Cox

Ho Ho Ho. ‘Tis the season for Hollywood to churn out all the typical holiday fluff, and you know as much as I like Christmas I can’t help but get turned off by all the feel-good family comedies that come out this time of year. People want so desperately to absorb all the good cheer that they’re actually willing to pay to see stuff like The Santa Clause 2. Which brings me to exactly to my point… it’s about damn time someone released a movie like Bad Santa.

Say what you want about the movie being mean-spirited and an affront to everything that Christmas stands for. I really don’t care. This cynical comedy is so dark, so twisted, and so ridiculously off the wall that it’s exactly what the world needed right now. I don’t think it’s hurting anyone, and more importantly it’s one of the funnier movies I’ve seen this year. For a Christmas movie, that’s definitely saying something.

Bad Santa is the byproduct of a strange assortment of participants. The movie was written by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (Cats & Dogs), executive produced by the Coen Brothers, and directed by Terry Zwigoff. (Yes, the same Terry Zwigoff that directed Crumb and Ghost World.) As much as Bad Santa seems like a cash grab for Zwigoff, it is actually a lot closer to a Zwigoff-style film than you might think. Zwigoff typically champions misfits and oddities, and as you will see, Bad Santa is all about the weird and the absurd.

The concept may sound pretty low-brow, but as far as holiday movies go I think it’s somewhat unique. Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie, an alcoholic conman who, along with his midget sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), manages to rob a different shopping centre every Christmas by posing as the mall Santa and Elf and then cracking the security systems on Christmas Eve. This year’s target is a mall in Phoenix, Arizona where Bernie Mac is a mall security chief, and the late John Ritter happens to be the dweeby, anal-retentive mall owner.

In the early moments of the movie, it plays out somewhat predictably with the shocking juxtaposition of a hungover, foul-mouthed Santa Claus carrying the majority of the jokes. As we watch Santa puke in an alleyway outside a bar, and then a few scenes later lose control of his bladder while a hapless kid sits on his lap, it becomes obvious that the movie could very quickly run itself into the ground with too much reliance on toilet humour. Thankfully, the movie takes a turn for the better when Willie and Marcus meet a chubby, snot-nosed kid who is apparently so awestruck at meeting Santa Claus (or possibly so dim witted) that he is basically speechless. Although Willie is quick to verbally unload on the kid, his alcohol-induced paranoia leaves him more than a little rattled by the encounter. Little does Willie know that this kid has a tough lot in life, being ridiculed and abused by the other kids in his neighbourhood, plus his father is in jail for embezzlement, leaving him to live by himself with his very elderly grandmother.

The kid (played by Brett Kelly) carries the film from this point on with his charming naivety, random quirks, and seemingly questionable mental stability. He is the atypical Zwigoff misfit living far outside the norm, oblivious to his uncoolness and simply not interested in fitting in. Played against Billy Bob Thornton’s selfish, over-the-top bad ass “scrooge” character, the interaction makes for some hilarious moments.

Bernie Mac also adds some humour to the film without really doing much of anything. His performance as the hard-boiled detective type is so understated that I barely recall him having any lines of dialogue at all. There is one scene where John Ritter’s character is trying to convince him that the new Santa they’ve hired is bad news, and all Mac does is stare at him emotionlessly while eating an orange. So simple, and yet something about it is just classic.

Believe it or not, this movie also has a heart, and the strange relationship between Willie and the kid does bring about a change for both of them. I know Bad Santa has gotten mixed reviews, which is to be expected when a comedy is edgy and crass. The thing is, I really can’t imagine disliking this movie. It’s just too damn loveable… something about the whole idea is just so “out there”, so exagerrated, that you can’t possibly be offended by it. Although it may seem like just another gross-out shock comedy, Bad Santa really is a lot more beneath the surface. If you have a biting and sarcastic sense of humour, Bad Santa will happily make you lose control of your own bladder repeatedly. It will be your “feel good” movie of the year. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person who happened to like The Santa Clause 2… well then maybe this one isn’t for you after all. — Sean