He doesn't care if you're naughty or nice.
Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is an angry and disgruntled alcoholic who reappears every Christmas season in a different city where he works - as a department store Santa - with his partner in crime, the diminutive Marcus (Tony Cox) who acts as his elf. The two make an odd holiday pair, not only due to their unorthodox ways, drunkenness and profanity, but also because their day jobs are just covers for their night-time business of robbing the stores where they work. Their latest stop is Phoenix where department store manager Bob Chipeska (John Ritter) is so concerned about the duo that he asks store detective Gin (Bernie Mac) to keep an eye on them.
Also watching them is Sue (Lauren Graham), a local bartender with a Santa fetish, and young Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), a picked-on and naïve 8-year-old who lives with his grandmother (Cloris Leachman). As Willie and Marcus prep for their next night-time raid, Willie's errant, crude and rude behaviour threatens to have the duo fired. Yet, as Sue becomes Willie's girlfriend of sorts and Thurman's sweet-natured but needy demeanour slowly but surely casts a spell on him, the bad Santa eventually begins to open his heart.
Special Agent Matti
For all of you who are over Christmas, the thought of Christmas and the mere possibility of Christmas, Bad Santa is the film for you. Santa is an alcoholic. Santa urinates in his Santa suit. Santa steals money. Santa tells lies. Santa steals cars. Santa beats up children. Santa swears. Santa roots chicks in the parking lot.
And don't even mention the elves!
Bah, humbug!
MA 15+ (Frequent coarse language, sexual references)
91 minutes (1:31 hours)
Film: 25 November 2004
DVD rental: 6 April 2005
VHS rental: 6 April 2005
