Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Maleeha Vincent
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
zardoz-13
Sometimes genuinely obnoxious movies can prove entertaining. "Ghost World" director Terry Zwigoff doesn't pull any punches in his sarcastic, sacrilegious, but sizzling saga about a pair of thieves that dress up like Santa Claus and his Elf accomplice and rob a departmental store of everything at Christmas time. The first thing that is going to rile prospective spectators is the abundant profanity. According to the Kids-in-the-Mind website, the F-word or its derivative is uttered 130 times. This should slash a third of the audience for this interesting, artsy, crime thriller/ character study. Oscar winning actor Billy Bob Thornton is thoroughly persuasive as a down-on-his-luck individual who has dedicated himself to a life of debauchery and wound up masquerading as Santa Claus once a year as part of an elaborate crime. Willy (Billy Bob Thorton) is not the brains behind this skulduggery. Instead, Marcus Skidmore (Tony Cox) organizes everything. Marcus is as ruthless as he is short. He is a small person. Nevertheless, nobody should let Marcus' lack of height lull them into a false sense of security. He uses Willy to break into the safe so they can loot it for an eleven-month holiday until time comes for them to look for a new target. This time, they run into a challenging adversary, a Department Store Security Chief (Bernie Mac") who is as smart as he is cunning. In one of his final theatrical appearances, John Ritter plays a sensitive story supervisor who discovers Willy having anal sex with a customer in a ladies' dressing room. The second reason you won't like "Bad Santa" is the amoral behavior of the hero. He drinks himself into a stupor and often winds up bedding down a single girl. His only dictum is that she must cry "Santa" during their sexual follies. "Bad Santa" is a crude, rude, lewd character study with a surprise ending for what is basically a matter-of-fact crime comedy.
Floated2
Bad Santa is not a movie for everyone which is what makes the film a great Christmas classic. Bad Santa started as a concept by its executive producers Joel and Ethan Coen, who turned their idea over to John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the screenwriters of the edgy kids' movie Cats & Dogs.Started off as a career criminal Willie T. Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) has found himself the perfect profession. As one may put it, he just has to work three weeks every year to keep himself in all the booze, cigarettes he needs for the other 49 weeks of the year. Willie is a mall Santa whose partner in all things criminal is dwarf named Marcus (Tony Cox). Marcus has three important jobs: He plays Santa's elf and keeps Willie just sober enough to snarl at the kids who come to the malls' North Pole castles.Others may find it stale, while the reviews have been overwhelming great and the film is just popular today, even more so than when it was released back in 2003, now after watching it on Christmas day 2015. The greater of Bad Santa is that it's unrelentingly and unapologetically delightful.
bbewnylorac
This movie is a breath of fresh air in so many ways. It's hilarious. On the surface, it's off-putting. Just for starters, there's the profanity, and the dedicated immorality of Billy Bob Thornton's mall Santa character, Willie, and everyone around him. In a way Willie is like a particularly evil version of Bill Murray's grumpy curmudgeon character in Groundhog Day. But Bad Santa has so much the ring of truth to it. When Willie -- a thief, alcoholic and conman -- is forced to look after a determinedly sweet little boy, he discovers he does have a heart somewhere in there and he might just be a rough diamond. The little boy is just the best actor. In fact, you will rarely see a better performance from a child. Some of it is the script, but also the boy plays it so naturally deadpan that most of his lines are hilarious. Good on the directors for going with someone unconventional and not just the cookie-cutter cute kid. The caustic, crude, very un-jolly Billy Bob Thornton is born to play the role of Bad Santa. The movie won't be to everyone's taste, but those with any sense of subtlety and a wicked sense of humour will find it a joy.
John Doe
Bad Santa is a 2003 comedy film directed by Terry Zwigoff and is written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. The movie is absolutely hilarious and is a must see! This film is about Willie a false Santa Clause / crook (played by Billy Bob Thornton), he drinks a lot, swears a lot, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice! With his partner Marcus (played by Tony Cox), they are an unstoppable team...or are they? Willie soon meets The Kid a chubby, curly blond hared boy (played by Brett Kelly) (His real name is Thurman Merman) is really good at driving Willie up the wall (and it's not to get more presents from the North Pole). But the two do eventually become friends (sorta). Willie eventually gets involved with the cops and I don't want to spoil the rest of the film so you should just see it for yourself.I give Bad Santa a 10/10.
