Bad Santa

Introduction

Christmas movies generally fit into two distinct camps: 'festive' Christmas movies like It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Carol or those that are classed as Christmas films because they are set at that time of year such as Die Hard and Gremlins. Bad Santa is almost in its own category as, on one hand, it's a charming Christmas story about a bad guy finding a family at Christmas and on the other hand it's a lewd gross-out comedy centring on two thieves who exploit the holiday season to rob department stores.

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is a self-loathing, foul mouthed alcoholic who, with his diminutive sidekick Marcus (Tony Cox), pose as a store Santa and his elf in order to circumvent the security system and rob the store in order to live it large until next year. Marcus is married to a vile materialistic woman who helps out and spends the time before the robbery making a wishlist of all the things she wants her husband to steal whilst Willie cracks the safe.

One year Willie needs somewhere to lay low and comes across a naïve tubby kid (Brett Kelly) who is picked on by bullies and seems to believe Willie is actually the real Santa. The kid lives alone with his grandma (an unaccredited Cloris Leachman) as his dad is away "exploring the mountains" and his mother is "in God's house; with Jesus and Mary and the ghost and the long eared donkey and the talking walnut" so Willie moves in, drinking himself stupid and starting a relationship with barmaid Sue (Lauren Graham) who has a Santa fetish.

Willie is unable to keep a low profile and is continually bailed out by Marcus but they catch the attention of manager Bob Chipeska (the late John Ritter) and store detective Gin (the late Bernie Mac).

Video

This is never going to be a showcase film for the technical benefits of Blu-ray but the picture is incredibly sharp, colours are bright and vibrant and skin tones perfect.

*The pictures contained in this review are for illustrative purposes only and do not reflect the image quality of the disc.*

Audio

As with the visuals, this is not a disc to show off your system but this doesn't mean that it's lacking in the audio department. The Dolby TrueHD track is crisp with clear dialogue and there is a fantastic soundtrack of classical music and discordant Christmas carols which reflect Willie's state of mind.

There are several other languages catered for and an English audio descriptive track as well as good subtitles.

Extra Features

Rather disappointingly there is no new material for this Blu-ray release, only the same set of features from the DVD release, also presented in 480p standard definition. Terry Zwigoff hasn't been persuaded to record a commentary for this, the unrated version, so all we're left with is the 9 minute Bad Santa: Not Your Average Christmas Movie which is a brief making of, largely comprised of interviews with cast and crew, some deleted scenes (some of which are in this version of the film) and a blooper reel. It's an alright package but nothing to write home about - the Blu-ray release deserved better.

Conclusion

Bad Santa was the brainchild of the Coen Brothers and is at its best when Billy Bob Thornton is being offensive (particularly to children), crude and belligerent, whilst drunk. When it tries to move into heart-warming seasonal territory, it tends to lose pace and you just want Willie to start mouthing off at a stranger. Despite this, it ends well and you don't feel short changed - Thornton is perfect at delivering both crude and charming dialogue equally well.

As well as Thornton, the rest of the cast are excellent - John Ritter is brilliant, stealing every scene in which he appears, Bernie Mac was a fine comedic actor and Canadian actor Brett Kelly was quite a find.

It's not quite an antidote to Christmas movies as it does have a heart without subscribing to the entire Christmas ethos with a fairytale ending where everyone is happy and everything is resolved. There are better films to watch over the holiday period but few are as funny as this.