Bad Santa was marketed pretty obviously as a dumb, offensive holiday-themed comedy. Billy Bob Thornton playing a mean, drunk loser stuck being a department store Santa Claus every year to pull off an elaborate robbery was almost certainly going to do well in 2003. It’s an easy arena to mine comedy from, and the fact that it grossed approximately $70 million isn’t a surprise. What’s surprising is the endurance of this movie 20 years after its release. The secret weapon of course is that director Terry Zwigoff, whose work (Crumb, Ghost World) reveals a singular fascination in underdogs, weirdos, and sometimes scumbags.
A lot of accessible crass humor obviously defines Bad Santa, which has Thornton’s bitter alcoholic Willie Soke meeting some oddballs as he sets up shop in Phoenix, Arizona with partner Marcus (one of many great Tony Cox performances). There’s a bizarre, kindhearted little boy (Brett Kelly) with a Santa Clause fixation and a deeply oblivious grandmother who can at least apparently make sandwiches (an amazing, uncredited Cloris Leachman). There’s a bartender (Lauren Graham) with a very different type of Santa Claus fixation. Every scene between Graham and Thornton reveals some genuinely funny, sweet chemistry. A similar thing can be said of Thornton’s interactions with Kelly as a kid you genuinely grow to care about.
There’s also at least two completely unhinged employees (the brilliant, missed tandem of John Ritter and Bernie Mac) of the mall in which Willie and Marcus are planning to rob. All of these characters stand out as humorous eccentrics, while having meaningful connections to the larger story of Willie’s dark, cynical redemption.
Characters who are as strange as they are interesting is one of the ways Bad Santa finds roads to be more than just a rapid-fire succession of jokes involving a drunk, perpetually horny, and sometimes vicious mall Santa. I still think this is the best screenplay Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have ever written.
This has been one of my annual holiday movies since I saw it in theaters in 2003. I don’t recommend watching Bad Santa if you yourself are a depressing alcoholic, but while this is usually what people remember the most about Bad Santa, what really makes the movie unique is how the story unfolds. We know there’s some measure of salvation coming for Willie, as he slowly warms up to those around him, particularly the kid. Thornton’s performance here never hits the wrong note.
When Bad Santa is funny, it’s funny, and it also finds ways within that to offer some grimly sardonic observations on loneliness, addiction, and the holidays themselves. Zwigoff maintains such an engaging balance between dark and comedy that by the time Willie leaves to carry out the job, we kind of don’t want him to.Bad Santa stands on its own. This is good and bad, since there’s a relatively mediocre sequel (but fun enough if you manage expectations), but also because Terry Zwigoff has directed only one other film since this one. We haven’t had an offbeat, shades-of-grey comedy from him in 17 years and counting. Bad Santa in all of its brilliance reminds me of this every time I watch it.
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