Review: Bad Santa

The Info Bit

Genre: Comedy
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Lauren Graham
Director: Terry Zwighoff
Run Time: 1hr 28Mins
Rating: 15
Year: 2003
Extras On DVD: Outtakes, Featurette

Onto film two of the season and a film that is a rarity amongst ‘seasonal’ films in that it is a really, really good film especially for the ‘scrooges’ amongst us. The film I’m talking about is……(if you’ve read the title of this you’ll know)…..yes Bad Santa!

As usual a brief plot overview for you fine people, (assuming its not just me reading this of course), Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie a safe cracker who does all his work at Christmas posing as the shopping malls Santa with his sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox) as his ‘Elf’, this year they go to Phoenix and come under the watchful eye of the Mall security and manager, plus a kid thinks Willie is the real Santa all with hilarious consequences as Willie and Marcus plan their next score.
I was really impressed with this film it was brilliant, very funny and in its own unique way quite heart warming. Billy Bob as Willie is brilliant, he manages to help you hate this character (as well you should) but at the same time feel really sorry for him, all whilst making you laugh your (expletive deleted) off. Tony Cox (who a few of you may recognise from Me, Myself and Irene amongst other films) is great as Marcus who is the brains of the operation, so to speak, and plays very well off of Billy Bob Thornton.. To be fair almost everyone play their roles brilliantly in this film from the two above through Lauren Graham (Willies Girlfriend) all the way to John Ritter (Mall Manager) and Bernie Mac (Mall Security), which is what makes this so entertaining to watch, to see acting of this comedy quality is rare.

I really want to write something bad about the film now but to be honest I can’t find any major faults in it, I suppose it is a film geared a little to people who find Christmas pointless which could be considered a negative but to be fair I love Christmas and I still love this film so it really isn’t a problem. I’m sure someone will be ale to find a fault with it but I really like it that much, so I’m not going to pick at it.

Onto the direction aspect. All in all its pretty good, there’s a lot that could have gone wrong mostly in terms of shooting of the dramatic moments but I can’t find fault with it and I love the camera use during one moment of Willie passing out with booze (The clever amongst you will see which bit I mean). Terry Zwighoff obviously guided the actors well as I say above their performances were really good, so a thumbs up to him.

Well that about wraps up this little present (see what I did there!), Bad Santa is a brilliant comedy film, one of the best seasonal films you will see and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good laugh at Christmas, plus as an added bonus I picked it up for a mere five pounds a bargain. Enjoy everyone