
Subgenre: Comedy
Summary: A mall Santa and his helper use their job to case malls they plan on robbing.
Review: Bad Santa is the ultimate anti-Christmas movie; it’s like Scrooged on steroids. Its main character isn’t just a curmudgeon – he’s a degenerate.
Willie spends his days getting blackout drunk, screwing anything that moves, and working as a mall Santa during the holidays. His only friend is Marcus, a little person who plays his elf. Their racket – knocking over the malls they work at – has provided them with steady income over the years, but Willie’s increasing carelessness threatens to lose them their jobs, or worse. Meanwhile, Willie inadvertently befriends a young boy whose house he’s squatting at, and teaches him a few twisted life lessons.
Bad Santa may not be the most tightly plotted movie out there, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s one of those movies that’s a collection of funny moments rather than a completely cohesive story. And it is funny, thanks mainly to Billy Bob Thornton, whose apathetic wreck of a character is never less than hilarious. The dialogue and situations in this movie are wonderfully depraved, and sure to offend all the right people. Bad Santa even manages to inject a little Christmas cheer as well, without ever giving up its biting sense of humor.
The Verdict: Bad Santa is a deranged, hilarious Christmas movie for adults. I give it eight sauce-swilling Santas out of ten.