Movie Reviews

Billy Bob Thornton as Santa Clause. Really, I think that should tell you even more about what to expect from Bad Santa than the 'R' rating attached to the film.

Thornton plays Willie, a drunken loser who joins up each year with his black midget partner Marcus (Tony Cox) to find a job as a department store Santa and elf, then rob the place empty at the end of the season. Things have gone well for the two of them over the last six years, six department stores, and six big robberies. Willie's drinking seems to escalate each year however, and he shows obvious contempt at the 'work' involved as a department store Santa. The only reason the current store's manager (played by the late John Ritter) doesn't fire the two of them is because of the precarious legal position he'd be in after firing an African American midget.

One day at work, a slow-witted chubby boy named Thurman (played by Brett Kelly, a local kid from Surrey) reveals to Willie that he's living more-or-less on his own in a giant house in the suburbs. Willie takes advantage of the kid's bizarre reverence of the fake Santa and decides to move in to Thurman's house for the holidays.

To say that something of a relationship develops between Willie and Thurman would true, but it would also seem to imply a certain amount of cliché ('grumpy adult develops friendship with innocent kid'). Bad Santa, refreshingly, avoids clichés whenever possible. Willie hates working as a Santa, and despite the strange relationship that does develop, he still pretty much hates the kid throughout the whole film. In fact, Willie is just about one of the most hateful characters I've ever seen -- which is exactly why he's so funny as a department store Santa who's immune from getting fired.

The whole movie is really funny, so long as you're not easily offended, I imagine. Bad Santa is entirely vulgar, gross, demented, and mean-spirited (well, okay, there's a bit of nice stuff that happens at the end). As long you know what you're getting into when you see this, you'd probably enjoy it.