Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) may just
have the best job in the world. He gets to spend eleven months out
of the year lazing about, doing whatever he wants. Then, each
December, he meets up with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox) to pull a
burglary. Marcus, you see, is a dwarf, which makes it easy for him
to get a seasonal job as one of Santa's elves. Willie, who is also a
safe-cracker, plays the Santa role, and the job gives them easy
access to whatever mall or department store they work in. Once they
have cased the joint, they clean it out, then spend the rest of the
year enjoying their earnings.
The beauty of this setup is lost on
the alcoholic, perpetually-depressed Willie. His drinking and
nihilism are gradually making him less reliable as a mall Santa and
as a partner-in-crime for Marcus. Then Willie meets a girl. Sue
(Lauren Graham) is way too cute for an alcoholic bum like Willie, but
apparently she goes for him because she has a Santa fetish. (Also,
Billy Bob Thornton married Angelina Jolie in real life, so maybe we
are just meant to understand that this is his superpower.) You would
think that a hot, new girlfriend might inspire Willie to clean up his
act a little, but he pretty much keeps on drinking and trying to
screw everything up. It isn't until Willie gets involved with a
weird, little, fat kid that he starts to feel some empathy and grow
as a person. The kid's parents are gone, leaving him in a fancy
house with his demented grandmother. At first, this just gives
Willie a great place to hide out and party with Sue, but eventually
these four form a twisted family.
“Bad Santa” is an example of how a
lot of cinematic sins can be forgiven if a filmmaker gets the tone of
a movie right. There are tons of holes in this plot, but the darkly
comic tone is maintained consistently without getting TOO dark or
resorting to sentimentality. The result is a fairly hilarious little
dark comedy. As holiday films go, I'll take “Bad Santa” over
“Miracle on 34th Street” any day.
3.5 stars out of 5
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