Bad Santa (on DVD)

2003’s Bad Santa may have been ahead of its time. With 2005 being the year for R-rated comedies, Bad Santa probably could have done more business at the box office if it had ridden the coattails of Wedding Crashers and The 40 Year Old Virgin; on the other hand, Americans may never be ready to connect Christmas with profanity and lewd behavior. If you are in the mood for an irreverent comedy and have no little kids running around, Bad Santa may be just the right entertainment for you. The movie centers on a pair of crooks who dress up as Santa and his little helper to rob malls during Christmastime. When an overweight troubled kid and a suspicious security chief unexpectedly enter the picture, it causes a humorous chain of events to follow. The story is the weak point of this movie. The relationship between Willie (aka Bad Santa, played by Billy Bob Thornton) and the Kid is stale and corny. Director Terry Zwigoff’s use of a fat kid and a midget Santa’s helper only generates some cheap laugh. The movie’s ending is also too pat to be convincing. I wish Zwigoff had the guts to end the movie in a character-appropriate downer. However this movie is good at portraying the central character and Thornton’s performance transforms the picture. Thornton is a great comic actor still waiting to be recognized by the American public. His deadpan face is perfect for suicidal and alcohol numbed Willie. He is terrific at delivering curse words and has plenty of opportunities to say them in this movie. His Willie is unbelievably sad and hysterically funny at the same time. The movie also features Lauren Graham in a role that will shock all her Gilmore Girls fans, and has a last onscreen role for always funny John Ritter. Besides a few enjoyable performances and a well-written lead character, Zwigoff cleverly mixes classic music in the background for a movie about a classless guy and it results in some uproarious moments for the audience.