Pulse
'Bad Santa': The Christmas flick from hell
Sean Loftus
Pulse critic'Bad Santa'
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, John Ritter, Bernie Mac
Running Time: 93 minutes
Rating: R
Gusheads: 3 1/2 out of 4
It is an amazing experience when an avid moviegoer sees the work of a complete and total film renegade uninhibited by the effects of the film.A director who's on the edge, a cinematic cowboy, a man who makes HIS film, HIS way, Terry Zwigoff lets the square suits in Hollywood fret like little children over his twisted creation and how to sell it to a mass audience.
Though he's not as prolific as Oliver Stone ("Natural Born Killers"), Stanley Kubrick ("A Clockwork Orange," "Full Metal Jacket") or David Lynch ("Mulholland Drive," "Blue Velvet"), I will safely chalk up Zwigoff among those names for his unflinchingly deft directorial work in the new Christmas comedy from Hell, "Bad Santa."
"Bad Santa" is a movie where a guy who plays Santa is portrayed as the meanest, most heinous, most foul-mouthed S.O.B. on the screen in quite some time. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a nihilistically joyous thing to think the big fat man with the long white beard is the biggest scumbag this side of Old Man Potter, brilliantly played to perfection by Billy Bob Thornton. Now, I don't know if this flick will ever be able to find the audience it deserves, but the fact remains that it does deserve an audience.
This film marks a great day where we finally get a comedy, and a drop-dead hysterical one, that doesn't pull the seemingly archetypal punches so many comedies fall prey to and doesn't opt for the all too cutesy feel-good-now-I-learned-the-value-of-Christmas tripe. Make no mistake; this is not "Elf." This is more like "Elf's" drunk, abusive stepfather.
Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) and his diminutive partner Marcus (Tony Cox) are thieves. They get a gig in a mall where they do the Santa routine. Then on Christmas Eve, after everyone else has gone home, they blow the safe and rob the place blind. Stokes spends the rest of the year in a drunken stupor and is somewhat suicidal, but work is work, and the two head to Arizona for the annual gig. Unfortunately, there are problems: the mall's manager (John Ritter) and security chief (Bernie Mac) are somewhat suspicious. So he needs a place to hide out. Fortunately for him, salvation is at hand.
A portly young kid (Brett Kelly) who's an exile in school and is being taken care of by his senile grandmother (Cloris Leachman), invites him in, as he claims to think he's the REAL Santa.
Well, as for the acting, everyone is required to be funny, and they all are.
With some hits and misses, this is still one of the more consistent funny adult comedies in a long while. The standouts are thankfully Thornton and the scene-stealing genius of Tony Cox, who might see his break in this film.
Now, all of you cynics out there are saying, "And then Willie conveniently softens up and learns the true meaning of Christmas." No, no and a thousand times no. This movie pulls absolutely none of the punches that could have spelled out its downfall. This is nothing like the unoriginal pieces of trash such as "The Hot Chick," "Van Wilder" or anything Adam Sandler has a hand in (acting or producing) where the main character is almost required to learn some extensive and pompously absurd life lesson. These types of endings often seem forced and unnatural.
Director Zwigoff and writer Arnie Marx know this and avoid letting it fall into that trap that would be so easy and save them a lot of headaches with the soul-sucking suits in Hollywood.
But they didn't. Thankfully, they stick with their twisted vision and have released a defiantly hilarious comedy.
This is a Manila site.