I had heard a lot of good things about "Bad Santa" before finally going to the theater to see it. For some reason the release of this film was postponed to the Christmas of 2004 where i live so i had heard quite a lot of buzz about it almost a whole year before.
Willie is a miserable and drunk Santa Claus. He works in shopping malls every Christmas even though he hates children. What drives him though is not the Christmas spirit, rather the robberies that he and his elf henchman perform every Christmas. Every year a new town, every year a new robbery. And this year is no different, even though things are going to change before the end...
Billy Bob Thornton is in my opinion the main reason why this movie works at all. He is perfect as the sour, heavily drinking and swearing Santa Claus. And i don't know when i last saw a movie where there was so much cursing going on towards children. And this is maybe also the problem this movie faces. How do you find the right level? How far do you take it before it's not even funny any more, just insulting. I feel that most of the time this movie hits the spot and manages to stay on the right side of that border. But of course there are occasions where the character Willie just becomes obnoxious.
Maybe what i appreciate most is the deviation from the usual Christmas movie that "Bad Santa" provides. It's actually a movie released at Christmas, featuring someone who hates Christmas, that doesn't end in an overly cute way. Rather the ending fits the movie quite well without becoming sugar-sweet.
I rate this 6/10.
Willie is a miserable and drunk Santa Claus. He works in shopping malls every Christmas even though he hates children. What drives him though is not the Christmas spirit, rather the robberies that he and his elf henchman perform every Christmas. Every year a new town, every year a new robbery. And this year is no different, even though things are going to change before the end...
Billy Bob Thornton is in my opinion the main reason why this movie works at all. He is perfect as the sour, heavily drinking and swearing Santa Claus. And i don't know when i last saw a movie where there was so much cursing going on towards children. And this is maybe also the problem this movie faces. How do you find the right level? How far do you take it before it's not even funny any more, just insulting. I feel that most of the time this movie hits the spot and manages to stay on the right side of that border. But of course there are occasions where the character Willie just becomes obnoxious.
Maybe what i appreciate most is the deviation from the usual Christmas movie that "Bad Santa" provides. It's actually a movie released at Christmas, featuring someone who hates Christmas, that doesn't end in an overly cute way. Rather the ending fits the movie quite well without becoming sugar-sweet.
I rate this 6/10.