Movie: Bad Santa
Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Bernie Mac
Directed by Terry Zwigoff; Written by Joel Coen (Dimension Films)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

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Willy, the Bad Santa in question here, is a thoroughly despicable person. Played with a corrosive acidity by Billy Bob Thornton, Willie's actually a safecracker who's partnered with a dwarf, Marcus (Tony Cox). Together they case and rob the stores they work in as Santa and Elf. Each Christmas is their cue to find a new store, but Willie is getting less and less reliable because he's also a falling-down drunk.

Willy's presence single handedly makes this holiday story so repulsive that you almost have trouble labeling it a comedy, black or not. About halfway through Bad Santa I was wondering where the entertainment was in this. Our Santa gets shit-faced over and over and over and over and over. We watch him mouthing off to the kids on his lap, pissing himself, yelling at mothers with food in his mouth, and yet no one, certainly not the wimpy store manager (John Ritter, in his last screen role), gives him the boot.

Director Terry Zwigoff doesn't seem to have the tongue-in-cheek touch that John Waters or the Coen brothers themselves might have had for this story. At least there is a shady store detective (Bernie Mac) who figures to horn in on Willie and Marcus's action and most of the plot's tension comes from him. Bernie's great but it's Tony Cox who gets all the best lines as he tries to stay working with Willie in spite of all the attention he's attracted. Inexplicably Willie also attracts a comely bartender (Lauren Graham) to be his squeeze, and even more unlikely, he attracts little Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly). Roly-poly, repressed Thurman believes in this disgusting Santa so unquestioningly you wonder if he's retarded. But of course he eventually brings Willie his salvation, so we can rejoice in this off-beat holiday offering, right? Sorry. It's not a modern It's A Wonderful Life by any stretch.

The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the film? It offered a few nice presents, but I felt like taking them back to the store.

© 2004 - Rusty Pipes