Bad Santa.

Review #1030: Bad Santa.

Cast: 
Billy Bob Thornton (Willie T. Soke), Tony Cox (Marcus Skidmore), Lauren Graham (Sue), Brett Kelly (Thurman Merman), Lauren Tom (Lois Skidmore), John Ritter (Bob Chipeska), Bernie Mac (Gin Slagel), Cloris Leachman (Granny), and Octavia Spencer (Opal) Directed by Terry Zwigoff.

Review: 
Admittedly, this is a movie that is not for everyone, but then again how many Christmas films need to be cheerful? This is a movie that basks itself in being cheerful in its rudeness and cynicism, and it sure does a fine job at keeping itself together with laughs. Thornton does a pretty good job in the main role, having a crude kind of soul with this character that keeps itself consistent with the film while never springing towards any kind of force sentimentality. He reflects the movie pretty well in that if you like his performance (or get some sort of kick out of it), you'll probably find the movie pretty enjoyable as a black comedy. The film's tone may seem like a novelty for some, but it definitely has a good share of amusing moments along with some fairly amusing performances. Cox proves to be a fairly entertaining partner as well, being fairly sharp. Kelly proves to be a fairly amusing kid, with a degree of intensity that you don't really see in other movies with kids in films like these. There is just something about how he acts around Thornton that makes for some particularly good scenes. Graham and Tom each don't have too much time on screen, but they do decent jobs. Ritter (in his last live-action role) does a fine job with what it given, staid but useful. Mac is also pretty amusing in an adversarial role that serves for a few odd moments that work well. This is a film with a bunch of oddballs for characters, and it is a movie that takes the risks head on and has a ball with all of its rude but amusing moments. Naturally, there exist numerous versions of the film, with one called "Badder Santa", which has a few more scenes added to it (for a movie that was already only 91 minutes long), and a director's cut that is three minutes shorter than the original release. No matter which version one picks, I'm sure that the film will work for anybody in the mood for some dark but fairly entertaining fare, whether around the holidays or not.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.