Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious dark comedy.
Review:
Con Artist Willie Strokes ( Billy Bob Thorton) with his midget sidekick ( Tony Cox) have been across the country every year playing Santa Claus in every shopping mall only to take some money. He is now in Phoenix Arizona to be their mall's Santa Claus, however he meets a kid ( Brett Kelly) whom thinks he's the real Santa Claus as he becomes friends. Willie has a plot to take the mall's loot to avoid being caught by the mall's detective ( Played by Bernie Mac) and store worker ( John Ritter) or else he's screwed for sure.
A foul-mouth and raunchy black comedy is executive produced by Joel & Ethan Cohen is loaded with profanity, sexual jokes and a wicked sense of adult humor. Definitely not for the kids Santa Claus movie, it's a grown up laugh-feast guaranteed to be a cult favorite.
The unrated DVD is sooo much superior to the original cut in which this version has some offensive stuff to avoid an "NC-17" rating, it's got nice picture & Sound quality, outtakes, behind the scenes special and deleted & Alternate scenes.
A recommended comedy that is guaranteed to offend or if your into the kind of humor from "Family Guy", John Waters or Trey Parker & Matt Stone.
Rating: 
Summary: This ain't no "Miracle on 34th Street"!
Review: "Bad Santa" is perverse, subversive and amoral. It is also outrageously funny. A true 'adult movie', it's not anything most parents would want their kids to see, but, then, I doubt it's something the people who made it would want THEIR kids to see either. After all, there IS life after the kids go to bed. The movie is like "Miracle on 34th Street" on booze. In that classic holiday tale, a drunken Santa Claus is replaced by the REAL Santa and everything turns out fine for everyone. But what if the drunk wasn't replaced? What if he had a partner, an adorable dwarf dressed up as an elf, and they had an ulterior motive, as in robbing the mall by which they were employed? What if the kid who doesn't believe in Santa but wants to isn't the sweet Natalie Wood of "Miracle" but a kid so lonely and so demented he makes your hair stand on end? Billy Bob Thornton plays Willie, the drunken, totally unredeemable Santa, brilliantly. It is a role many actors of his stature - not to mention many beneath his stature - would have been terrified to take on. He is truly one of the great character actors of his generation. He seems almost fearless. Tony Cox is remarkably funny as Marcus, the elf. In a world full of movies which play to audience expectations, it is refreshing to see one that seems to care less whether people like it or not. "Bad Santa" remains true to itself and, in doing so, takes no prisoners. It is a remarkable movie and, to me, remarkably funny one, too.
Rating: 
Summary: They should have stopped the original. It was bad enough!!!!
Review: 1st of all I rented this movie as it was supposed to be this hysterical comedy. This movie appeals only to people who like DARK COMEDIES. I chuckled about 4x during the movie. It was so depressing, boring, stupid, and just plain unfunny. And even though I like crude humor, the jokes weren't that funny. What a disapointment! Bernie Mac plays a straight man, so if you like his humor you'll be dissapointed yet again w/ this movie. If you like movies like Brazil, After hours, and war of the roses, you probably will like it, but if you want a sidespiltting, well written funny movie this one COMPLETLY misses the mark. Don't waste your time with this movie like I did!!!! I wish I could give it no stars!!!! but 1 is the least you can give it.
Rating:
Summary: If it makes the plebs uncomfortable, it must be good
Review: Ann (South Dakota) TErrible movie, December 23, 2004 -
> It was a disgusting, depressing movie. It could have
> been a funny premise for a movie but instead its just
> plain sick.
From middle America, *precisely* why it is a gem.
Genius. Black, soulless genius. Makes you feel good
without a poisonous happy ending. Wake up Dorothy,
the world is'nt all happy puppies and candy bars.
Despite what Dubya tells you.
This is a work of bitter genius and time will only
confirm it. Regardless of sexless prudes.
Felch
Rating:
Summary: FEARLESSLY BAWDY BUT FUNNY
Review: Bad Santa has many crass gags, it almost drags you into a dark alley of tasteless humour and thrashes you up. Imagine Billy Bob Thorton in a comic lead role, tough to visualize. But the man is bloody hilarious! Some parts are better scripted than others, but for a film that's so determined NOT to have a heart, it does surprise you with one. A wonderfully perverse treat that goes by in a flash, so it can't be all that bad any way. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Another Side of Christmas
Review: Bad Santa is not your typical Christmas movie fare. Based on an idea by the Coen brothers, Bad Santa follows the exploits of a continually drunk and ill-tempered safe cracker, Willy (Billy Bob Thornton) who poses as a department store Santa with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox) as an elf. Willy has almost no redeeming qualities. He curses at the kids, drinks until he wets his pants and is a sex maniac. While on their latest caper in Phoenix, Willy meets a weird kid Thurman (Brett Kelly) whose mother is dead and his father is in jail although Thurman thinks he's on a mountain climbing expedition. Thurman is watched by his clueless grandmother (Cloris Leachman) and this lack of supervision gives Willy the perfect place to hide out. After at first being disgusted by the kid, Willy grows to have some caring feelings towards him, which leads to the touching but wry ending. Mr. Thornton is superb in his role and he does the almost impossible task of making you care about a guy who is absolutely unlikable. Mr. Cox is a riot as Willy's partner and he has some of the best and dirtiest lines in the film. Lauren Graham appears as Sue a bartender with a Santa fetish who provides the film's most memorable, but unrepeatable line. Bernie Mac appears in an under utilized role as the department store's security chief and John Ritter has a brief appearance in his last film as the store's manager. His one scene with Mr. Thornton & Mr. Cox is hysterical. Young Brett Kelly is the heart of the film. His portrayal of the dimwitted Thurman is touching and sweet. It provides the yin to Mr. Thornton's raunchy yang.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Santa- Oh Is he Bad!
Review: Bad Santa, the new anti-holiday comedy from director Terry Zwigoff is one funny movie. It is just what you'd call hilarious and Billy Bob Thorton does make one very bad santa.
Thorton plays a lascivious, acoholic who works with an elf, (hilarious Tony Cox). They're both bad allright! They're business specializes in stealing, by working at different malls around the area and waiting for the right moments to take what they want. Soon a bartender (Lauren Graham) falls for Thorton. The story works out well, it's not amazing (obviously) but it does this movie just fine. As for humor, this movie receives a high rating on my scale. Note: If you find Christmas too sacrosant to joke about or if you don't like scenes using abusive language towards children, then you should skip this. Also Brett Kelly plays a kid, who think Thorton is a real Santa and won't leave him alone.
This is a dark comedy, no doubt. If you have a dark sense of humor, you should definetly look into it. Though the film is vulgar and some of the humor might be viewed as vile, it is entertaining all the way. Bad Santa is rated R for Pervasive Language, Strong Sexual Content and Some Violence. The language is consistent and seems to never end, the sexuality is fairly explicit, you mainly hear sounds, but some is shown. There are only about 3 sex scenes but none include nudity. The violence is reasonably mild, a shootout near the end, which surprisingly isn't bloody and some fistfights. Billy Bob Thorton has also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor for his performance, he does make a great, bad santa, but I'm not sure if he deserves it. Other contenders include, Bill Murray for "Lost in Translation," and yet another nomination this year for Jack Nicholson for "Something's Gotta Give. All in all, a fine comedy, the one thing I might've changed was the constant profanity but I guess it helps make the movie even more funny. Worth seeing in theatres and not a bad pick for owning on Video or DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie.
Review: Billy Bob Thornton as a drunk santa that befriends a fat kid and learns a lesson, weird plot, but that is pretty much the movie, The best parts are when Santa and his midget elf are teacher the kid how to box & they hit eachother in the ..., you know what spot but if I put it amazon will censor it, and the other(and my personal favorite) funny part of the film is when Bernie Mac is telling them he wants half of thier money, and they keep reducing it and he keeps sayin' half, Awsome movie, Get the unrated version because it shows more, and its funnier, unfortunatly I have the regular Bad Santa, but I rented BaddER Santa, and will probably buy it from the used DVD rack soon, Buy it, its still entertaining even after christmas.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Santa is GOOOOOOD!!!!
Review: Billy Bob Thornton is so low in his portrayal of the anti-Santa, he is mouth-droppingly disgusting and foul - yet somehow endearing. Such a wretched wreck he can't even control his bodily functions - but that doesn't stop him from showing up for work as a department-store Santa. His partner is a midget dressed as an elf: apparently an irresistible combination for mall managers, who obviously don't delve too deeply into his background. Bernie Mac and John Ritter are wonderful supporting characters. I think at some point all adults get sick of the endless good cheer of the "holiday." This movie is for those times. The story turns when Thornton meets a fat kid who is determined that Thornton is The Real Thing. The boy takes Santa home to live with him and his senile grandmother. The ending of the story is wonderful and well-executed. Who the real villian(s) turns out to be is a surprise.
Rating:
Summary: The feel-bad hit of the winter
Review: For those of us who can't quite get into the Christmas spirit, "Bad Santa" is a massive preemptive strike against all of the insufferable sentimentality we're going to be subjected to a few months from now. This movie is every bit as entertaining and funny as "School Of Rock," but where "School Of Rock" succeeded through the overwhelming weight of its good intentions, "Bad Santa" (its moderately heartwarming ending notwithstanding) is all about bad intentions. This movie, especially in its powerhouse first half, displays such a commitment to mean-spiritedness that you can't help but love it. Billy Bob Thornton's safe-cracking department-store Santa Willie is the epitome of ugliness, all the more so because he commits much of his mayhem in his work outfit. Early on we see him getting drunk and throwing up in an alley, and from there he remains in the gutter for much of the movie. He chain smokes, he wets himself in his chair, he fornicates in a dressing room, and above all, he swears. I don't find profanity inherently funny, but Thornton's acid tongue manages to turn four-letter words into weapons of unimaginable destructive power. More than anything I've seen since the "South Park" movie, "Bad Santa" manages to elevate nasty language into an art form.
Even in its moments of humanity, the movie doesn't aim too high. Willie does have a love interest, but not quite in the conventional sense: intead, it's a young bar waitress with a Santa fetish who demands that Willie wear his stocking cap during coupling. Willie also finds some meaning in his life by striking up an offbeat friendship with a fat, bullied kid named Thurman, a bond that manifests itself in one unforgettable scene when Willie beats the living hell out of the teen skateboarder who gave Thurman a black eye. Even though it's Thornton's show, "Bad Santa" also benefits from a top-notch supporting cast. In his last film role, the late John Ritter is the picture of ineffectualism as the mall manager; Bernie Mac is admirably slimy as the self-interested security chief; and the three-foot-tall Tony Cox belies his small size with a scene-stealing performance as Willie's "elf" and partner in crime. "Bad Santa" doesn't have an enormous level of plot development, but then it doesn't really need much. What's really important is the way the movie's cynicism slices and dices the sugary "cheer" (which is often cynical itself) that typically accompanies the holiday season. Christmas isn't all about irritating songs and people rioting in department stores over cheap presents, and we all owe a debt to "Bad Santa" for dumping a little snow on the parade.
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