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All movies seen on 12/23/2003

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Bad Santa (2003)

Directed by Terry Zwigoff

Most recently watched by zombiefreak, schofizzy, JohnPeel, danfinn, Javitron, lordofthemovies, elisabethwithns, vivalaserdisc, sleestakk, sensoria

Overview

A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid.

Rated R | Length 92 minutes

Actors

Viewing History (seen 3 times)


Date Viewed	Device	Format	Source	Rating
11/24/2013	TV	Broadcast	TV	5 stars
12/02/2012	TV	Blu-ray	Owned	4 stars
12/23/2003	Movie Screen	Film	Theater	3.5 stars
				(Average) 4.17 stars

Viewing Notes

This review originally appeared on Mediasharx.com. As of the last snapshot on March 27, 2006, it had received 932 views.

SANTA Not As Bad as Expected

Billy Bob Thornton stars as Willie Soke, a career criminal who uses the guise of a Mall Santa to pull one heist a year with the aid of his long-time partner Marcus, who is short enough to play an elf. After a drunken year spent in Florida, Soke meets with Marcus for one last heist in Phoenix, Arizona. The pair take up their usual Christmas roles in a department store managed by Bob Chipeska (John Ritter), a nervous man who becomes suspicious enough of the new Santa to alert the store’s confident and incontinent security chief, Gin Slagel (Bernie Mac).

While doing his job rather badly, a kid (appropriately named ‘The Kid’) becomes attached to Willie and begins to look to him as an authority figure since his grandmother is nigh-insane, his father is in prison, and his mother is “in the mountains with the talking walnut.” The Kid is a stereotypical sheltered-existence type who needs a helping hand in life with not only socializing, but the local skater punks who bully him. So, when Willie discovers someone ransacking his hotel room, he finds welcome residence at The Kid’s house while waiting to rob the store on Christmas Eve. His time with the neurotic child is time well spent, as it opens his heart to a new life and new possibilities.

Billy Bob Thornton does well as the white-trash drunk who wants nothing but to be left alone. Tony Cox is simply okay; his lines come off well at times and at others it seems like he’s barely acted. Ritter, in his last role, is hilarious in what few scenes he was given as the store manager; his role simply disappears during the third act of the film. Bernie Mac, although funny at times, seemed like he was just phoning it in. And, Lauren Graham as the bartender-cum-Santa-slut is funny, but she is ultimately just a plot device with little substance. The real gem in this film is the relationship between Willie and The Kid (Brett Kelly). Newcomer Kelly pulls off the role of the simpleton with poise.

Don’t go into BAD SANTA expecting a heart-warming Christmas comedy or high art, as this film is quite dark in nature and bred for easy laughter. The film has its shortcomings. It starts off well and has many laughs throughout, but it fizzles towards the end. The ending, while amicable enough, seemed hastily shot or poorly written, as if the writers suddenly decided they needed a quick way to pull everyone out of the dark hole that they had shoved the audience into.

Dark comedies don’t seem to sit well with the general audience; no doubt this one will end up the same. However, director Terry Zwigoff, no stranger to the dark comedy, has put together a generally enjoyable film that isn’t as subtle as his last, GHOST WORLD, but it doesn’t try to wedge-in the jokes as some comedies of late are apt to do.

This film will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you go in with the right attitude, you’ll come out laughing.

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