Rating: Summary: Family Fun Review: This movie had me rolling on the floor the whole time
Rating: Summary: Hmm..Not that offensive, just boring Review: The movie stars Billy Bob Thorton as an alcoholic, chain-smoking Santa with left over childhood issues. His accomplice is a midget that always acts as his elf helper. When I saw the previews for this movie, it looked like it would be pretty funny, so I took the time to go and see it. This movie does have some mildly amusing parts but these are all heavily diluted by scenes filled with Billy Bob stumbling around in an alcoholic daze and doing stupid things, sometimes peeing his pants. He uses a lot of foul language, which doesn't really bother me, but listening to him blow up at people and say Jesus Christ populated by various adjectives becomes exhausting. Sorry Billy Bob, that's just not that funny anymore. What's more, if they edited out the foul language Billy Bob would have half the amount of lines that he does. After about ten minute the movie had introduced the entire cast of corrupt characters and their depraved agendas. Besides the midget, the movie features a wishy-washy mall manager, a corrupt security official and a slutty waitress with a Santa-fetish. The ending was sweet, but I felt too much like I had just run a marathon to enjoy it.
Rating: Summary: Rude, crude, totally unacceptable...I loved it!!! Review: What a great way to laugh your way into the usual stressful holiday season! Brilliantly cast, hilarious film...outstanding performances by all. We especially couldn't stop laughing at John Ritter's facial expressions when discussing Santa's bad deeds with Bernie Mac's character...you will truly keep laughing well after the movie is over!!
Rating: Summary: My favorite Christmas movie Review: After seeing this film I would have to say that this is my favorite Christmas film ever made. Yeah, it is offensive in so many ways; but honestly, it's great to see that. Billy Bob Thornton is great in this film and it is fun for the audience. I can not give enough praise for this film. I plan on getting it on Dvd and watching it every Christmas. People are complaining that it ruins or demeans Christmas, but to be honest what does Christmas mean anyway? I know the answer that we are supposed to give; but it seems that all Christmas is about now is holiday shopping, false sentiment, and over-used themes which make people "feel good." It's refreshing to see someone take a motif that has been pounded into our heads since childhood and tear it apart. I would say that we need more films like this; we are too safe and secure in our movies. Perhaps in some ways this movie attempts to destroy that feeling of safety by demolishing our notions of what a Christmas films should be. I love my new foul-mouthed, drunk, horny Santa....and how could you not?
Rating: Summary: Raunchy, funny, but repetitive. And not for the kids. Review: "Bad Santa" is a movie from that dirty magazine row tucked in the back of gas stations: It is thrilling, and funny, and eventually a little tiresome and disappointing, to watch Billy Bob Thornton play a degenerate, drunk thief masquerading as a department store Santa Claus. Appropriately named Willie T. Stokes, Thornton achieves a kind of white trash zen, slurring, stumbling and cursing his way through nativity sets.And Willie's just the jumping off point. "Bad Santa" is a comedy cast like a noir picture, where every player reveals a touch of the bizarre. There's Willie's dwarf partner (Tony Cox), a fat kid who takes to Willie as a father figure and Willie's Jewish girlfriend (Lauren Graham), who has a Santa fetish. Bernie Mac and John Ritter have smaller, goofy roles as department store employees; the late Ritter, sadly, is again cast as a nebbish, probably gay man for no particular reason and to little avail. The humor is repeatedly pitched at basic crassness, or maybe just a notch above, as Thornton and his co-stars run the same gags into the ground; there are only so many ways the dwarf can verbally dress down Willie, or Willie dress down the kids. Some scenes border on scatological "Who's On First?" routines. Terry Zwigoff's direction is painfully flat and amateurish for a guy who made "Ghost World." The idea, of course, is to offer perfectly intelligent, affluent adults a bargain-budget 90 minutes to indulge in the communal loathing of precious tykes and holiday materialism while extolling the virtues of loose women, cheap whiskey and stone cold burglary - essentially a middle finger to the very suburbanites that will be among its biggest fans. If your SUV can handle an evening in the cold, there are worse ways to get over yourself. Note: "Bad Santa" has drawn some fire from Christian conservatives for debunking that long held Christmas myth that, apparently, Santa and Jesus are long lost buds. That couldn't be better publicity for a movie like this.
Rating: Summary: Egregiously Substandard Effort At Dark Comedy Review: This film had all the elements of a dark comedy: A despicable title character, an off-beat side-kick, a wimpy adversary (John Ritter), a formidable adversary (the mall security chief), a pretty girl friend, a pitiful little kid, and an unorthodox plot. Yes, this film had everything such a comedy should have. It only lacked humor and the right edge.
Rating: Summary: Amazing movie and Thorton rules! Review: This is the kind of Christmas movie for PEOPLE LIKE ME! It is crude, rude, and funny. But there is also a message and a heart here in this movie that you won't find in all those sugar soaked kiddie hollywood flims that get released every year. The plot has already been covered so let me skip that and add that thorton's character has a true sadness to him and reflects what happens when children are denied love and attention. Even Bad Santa's friend doesn't LIKE him and NEVER praises him but that's all he's ever know so he tolerates it. The relationship with the child is very moving and funny.Now for the bad reviews there is a christian conservative talk-show host and his group of flunkies who have been told to sink this movie by writing bad reviews and threatening movie chains that show it because it doesn't fit THEIR version of christmas. Last time I checked this is america and we can watch what WE want. Sorry but Christmas is a sad time for alot of people and this film beautifully captures this. Best line in the movie: how did your beard fall out? Bad Santa: I loved a woman who was unclean. Also be on the lookout for a member of office space who trie to give Santa some holiday cheer all the while screaming "I'm not Gay". While thorton says "I killed thounsands of your kind in nam!"
Rating: Summary: Bad Ticket Buyer Review: I was not offended at all by this movie, I do not relate Santa to religion anyway. What I was offended by, is Billy Thornton's terrible acting job. Yes, he makes a believable drunk, yet he still gives a dry performance. I still admire the man, even if he, for whatever reason, decided to star in this stinker. There are several laughs here though, mostly at the expense of a short person (I don't think saying midget is politically correct).. Good for brain numbing, mindless entertainment..and nice to see the dedication at the end of the film to the late John Ritter, who plays a role in the film. He plays it rather well I might add....
Rating: Summary: Wonderful Review: Not for the kids, to be sure. I laughed so hard that I have to see the film again to catch what was going on while I was catching my breath.
Rating: Summary: breath of fresh air Review: To be sure, there is hardly anything refreshing about Bad Santa. Or, of redeeming value for that matter. Directed by new-comer Terry Zwigoff, it the foulest - and funniest - Christmas movie I have seen. Bad Santa is about Willie T. Stokes, Billy Bob Thorton, a self-loathing, sex-crazed, pathetic excuse of a man, who drinks alcohol incessantly. As a means of supporting himself financially, Willie has made a ritual of getting himself employed each year as Santa by department stores, and robbing the store when he gets an opportunity. To assist in his exploits, he brings along a midget by the name of Marcus, Tony Cox, who is actually the saner of the two. At any rate, a store manager, the late John Ritter, becomes suspicious of Willie and asks his security guard, Bernie Mac, to find something for which he could use as a reason, or an excuse, to get rid of Willie. To evade what Willie believes are police going through his apartment - it is actually Bernie Mac's character - he finds a place to stay at a home of a naïve, overly-trusting third grade student, who is "cared for" only by his "grandma", an even more clueless character in this movie. And, without revealing much else of the plot, from this point on Willie, after being inundated with the kid's seemingly pathological optimism, will befriend him and will "turn a corner" in his life. Well, not exactly. Indeed, Bad Santa even makes a mockery of the conventions of happy endings of Christmas movies. This is definitely not a movie for everyone; Bad Santa contains adult language and explicit sexual humor. But, if you don't mind seeing something different from the ordinary this holiday season, Bad Santa can prove a guilty pleasure.
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