As we know, Christmas is a time of peace and goodwill, a time of people getting together and festive cheer. Now, whenever it's Christmas, you must have a traditional, seasonal family film. In the past, we've had classics like It's A Wonderful Life (1947) to White Christmas (1954), to modern excrement such as Jingle All The Way (1996), Surviving Christmas (2004) and Christmas With The Cranks (2004). However, there has been one recent Christmas film, which has dared to be very different indeed!! Featuring the sort of material you certainly wouldn't see in your average Christmas film, in fact, this one certainly isn't for children!! Directed by Terry Zwigoff and mastermined by The Coen Brothers, it can only be Bad Santa!!
A Christmas film for grown-ups, and probabily the funniest one of it's kind.
The film has drunken crook Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton), who with his partner in crime dwarf Marcus (Tony Cox), work in shopping malls as Santa and his elf. On Christmas Eve, they rob the mall's safe. This Christmas however, Willie's foul-mouthed behaviour gets Mall manager Bob Chipeska (John Ritter), suspicious, so he gets mall detective Gin (Bernie Mac) to investigate. Meanwhile, Willie becomes a friend of sort with The Kid (Brett Kelly), an overweight boy whose house Willie crashes at, but The Kid helps make Willie see the true meaning of Christmas, and hopefully make him change his ways before it's too late.
This is a very different kind of Chistmas film, but it's all the better for being different. This is a very funny film indeed, with humour coming out of it's situations, dialogue and characters. The scene which stands out the most is Willie and a fat woman in the woman's changing room. (
"Yeah baby, you not gonna shit right for a week!!" 
) Now, name another Christmas film with that kind of sex in it?? Nope?? Thought not!! If a film has that kind of sex in, it's a good film!!
Plus, it has a hilarious boxing scene and a senile old Grandmother.
The film has a great lead in the form of Billy Bob Thornton, adding a boorish quality to a thug, whose stone cold heart is melted by The Kid, (whose real name turns out to be Thurman Merman
) Plus, director Zwigoff keeps it's darkly comic tone up throughout the film, and for him, it is an ideal follow up to Ghost World (2001), and who better to collaberate with than Joel and Ethan Coen?? The Coen's produced the film, and even came up with the idea. (I wonder how it could have turned out if they had directed it?? ) However, some weren't pleased by it up release, Disney, who released it America, especially weren't pleased at all, with former chief exec Michael Eisner howling,
"Nothing appears scared anymore. This is not in the spirit of Walt Disney!" Despite this, it did well at the box-office and it's become a cult favourite.
Anyone seen Bad Santa?? If not, check it out, it's well worth a look, and it makes a refreshing change from the slushy, sentimental slush that passes for Christmas films these days. It's a contender for Thornton's best part to date, and it proves that swearing in front of little children IS funny!!
Yet, for all the swearing and mean-spiritied nature about the film, it does have a real heart at it's centre, but it still keeps it's darkly comic exterior throughout. Now, MORE films should be like this!!
