Bad Santa

You cay say I'm a Grinch if you want but Christmas has never been a high priority when it comes around every December for me. As a person who's main hobby includes writing, junior hockey and pretty much any other sport besides football, it seems to becomes harder and harder every year to find a present to ask for. Living right near a big suburban Detroit mall, I see the Christmas traffic and living in Michigan, snowstorm for sure has been seen. Sure, I still like this holiday because of the Christmas spirit and I could drink eggnog every day of the month if I wanted to. Also hours of NBA basketball on the 25th is always a relaxing treat.

What's most ironic about this holiday is that it has pushed me away from films from this genre. Sure, I've seen the major Christmas films including Christmas Story, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, and Die Hard but I have missed stuff like Christmas Evil, Silent Night Deadly Night and the original Miracle on 34th Street.

Bad Santa ultimately is the Christmas film for the people not interested in the holiday or that really just a need short a break from it all.

Willie Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) is a part time drunk and con man and along with his midget friend Marcus (Tony Cox), this duo is known to do scamming and a fair amount of stealing at a new mall every year while Willy plays Santa and Marcus plays an elf. While meeting a kid, Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly) at the new mall this holiday year, Willy finds the a new meaning of Christmas through this kid.

It would be completely false to say the Willie character has nothing to him. He drinks non-stop, enjoys the local bartender Sue (Lauren Graham) due to the sex and he has no interest in being Santa or the kids once they are on his lap. Still, he takes an interest in Thurman. Thurman asks a lot of questions, can't stand up to bullies and lives in a very high end high house. The kid gives Willie such great character development, shows Willie the life of a kid which Willie likely would never ever see if he never have met him and gives Willie a proper testament to what this holiday really is.

It surely is a nice story but we can't forget the humor attached to this movie. I've always found Thornton to be a funny guy, Tony Cox's character has the running gag of being a midget and the film is famous for using 173 F-bombs in the film and is on the list of the most F-bombs ever in a film. Even Bernie Mac shows up Gin Slagel, a chief of security of he mall and just like Thornton, Mac always knows how to provide laughs.

This black comedy will cast a black eye for people looking for a traditional take on the Christmas holiday. It is Clearly also not for the little one's of the family. Bad Santa will always be different but definitely still adds some charm to the Christmas genre. It is a charm that makes this film recognized long after the fact and it clearly shows now due to how well Bad Santa has held up now over ten years after it's release. Bad Santa is a naughty and full of coal Christmas film.

4/5