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Bad Santa - Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, John Ritter, Terry Zwigoff
Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
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.
Theatrical propaganda posters
Target demographic movie keyword propaganda
- Film Christmas black comedy Santa Father Christmas crime theft
Persons of interest
- Billy Bob Thornton .... Willie T Soke
- Bernie Mac .... Gin Slagel
- Lauren Graham .... Sue
- John Ritter .... Bob Chipeska
- Hayden Bromberg .... Fraggle-Stick Boy
- Stu Brumbaugh .... Mall Guy
- Joe Bucaro III .... Sergeant Mick
- Dylan Cash .... Kid on Bike
- Gelbert Coloma .... Filipino boxer
- Tony Cox .... Marcus
- Georgia Eskew .... Barbie Girl
- Brett Kelly .... Thurman Merman
- Cloris Leachman .... Grandma
- Briana Norton .... Pinball Girl
- Ethan Phillips .... Roger Merman
- Lisa Ross .... Bartender
- Ethan Coen .... Storywriter
- Joel Coen .... Storywriter
- John Requa .... Screenwriter
- Glenn Ficarra .... Screenwriter
- Arnie Marx .... Screenwriter
- Terry Zwigoff .... Screenwriter
- Terry Zwigoff .... Director
Cinematic intelligence sources
- Bad Santa official movie site
- Bad Santa QuickTime movie trailers
- Awards and film festivals:
- Cannes Film Festival 2004: Out of competition
- Casting Society of America, USA 2004: Nominated: Artios: Best Casting for Feature Film - Comedy (Mary Vernieu, Felicia Fasano)
- Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2004: Won: Best criminal (Willie T Soke - Billy Bob Thornton, Marcus - Tony Cox); Nominated: Best white trash (Sue - Lauren Graham)
- Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2004: Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (Billy Bob Thornton)
- International Press Academy Satellite Awards 2004: Nominated: Golden Satellite Award: Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical (Billy Bob Thornton)
- Golden Trailer Awards 2004: Nominated: Best Comedy For "XXXMas" - Trashiest
- London Film Festival 2004: Film on the Square
- Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 2004: Won: PFCS Award: Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Male (Brett Kelly)
- São Paulo International Film Festival 2004: International perspective
- Teen Choice Awards 2004: Nominated: Choice Movie Sleazebag (Billy Bob Thornton)
- See also Reindeer games
- Studios and distributors:
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
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!
Media intelligence (DVD)
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- Languages: English
- Picture: Widescreen
- Special features:
- Deleted scenes
- Featurettes: Behind-the-scenes
- Out-takes
Security censorship classification
MA 15+ (Frequent coarse language, sexual references)
Surveillance time
91 minutes (1:31 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 25 November 2004
DVD rental: 6 April 2005
VHS rental: 6 April 2005
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