Bad Santa / Bad Santa 2

He doesn't care if you're naughty or nice

BAD SANTA (18)

D: Terry Zwigoff

Dimension (John Cameron & Sarah Aubrey)

USA 🇺🇸 2003

91 mins

Comedy/Crime

W: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa

DP: Jamie Anderson

Ed: Robert Hoffman

Mus: David Kitay

PD: Sharon Seymour

Billy Bob Thornton (Willie Stokes), Lauren Graham (Sue), Tony Cox (Marcus), Bernie Mac (Gin Slagel), John Ritter (Bob Chipeska), Brett Kelly (Thurman Merman), Cloris Leachman (Granny)

An alcoholic, politically-incorrect and sexually perverse shopping mall Santa and his foul-mouthed dwarf accomplice plan on robbing the building on Christmas Eve, but their plans seem to be put in jeopardy when they get involved with a bullied schoolboy and a corrupt security chief.

Those expecting a Yuletide movie of candy canes and mistletoe may be very surprised. It's all quite bad taste but is incredibly funny (if you can take the humour), but it's ultimately quite sad that this was the last screen appearance of John Ritter, who died during production, and his character just seems to fade out of the story without any resolution.

It may not have much in the way of Yuletide cheer, but it's sure to keep festive spirits high if you can take the smutty humour.

6/10

Billy Bob Thornton & Brett Kelly in Bad Santa

Did You Know:

Billy Bob Thornton has said that he was genuinely intoxicated during some of filming.

BAD SANTA 2 (18)

D: Mark Waters

Miramax/Broad Green/Media Talent Group/Ingenious (Geyer Kosinski & Andrew Gunn)

USA/Canada/UK 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 2016

92 mins

Comedy/Crime

W: Johnny Rosenthal & Shauna Cross [based on characters created by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa]

DP: Theo van de Sande

Ed: Travis Sittard

Mus: Lyle Workman

Billy Bob Thornton (Willie Soke), Tony Cox (Marcus Skidmore), Kathy Bates (Sunny Soke), Brett Kelly (Thurman Merman), Christina Hendricks (Diane), Ryan Hansen (Regent), Jenny Zigrino (Gina)

This sequel to the 2003 black comedy is more of the same jokes, which really do push the boundaries of political incorrectness and bad taste.

A decade after his last heist, Willie Soke (the surname was Stokes in the first film) has hit rock bottom, hitting the bottle hard and is contemplating his own suicide when he receives a letter from his old partner in crime, the diminutive Marcus, who claims he's hatched a plan for a robbery which will net the duo in access of $2 million.

Upon their arrival in Chicago for their plan to take effect, Willie is reunited with his equally repugnant mother, the real brains behind the plan.

Many of the jokes are recycled from the first film, only with the volume turned up and quite possibly more disgusting. There are some very funny moments however (depending on your sense of humour), which save this from being just another cash-in sequel.

It doesn't quite capture the Christmas spirit like the original film did in its final moments, this is just a little too grubby for that.

4/10

Did You Know:

Brett Kelly was slimmer after becoming an adult, but purposely gained more than 40 pounds to reprise his role as Thurman. Brett consumed many smoked meat sandwiches in Montreal, where the film was shot, to quickly obtain the desired weight.