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message in the movies
By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader
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Bad Santa
Rated R
Directed by
Terry Zwigoff. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox
Photo © Dimension Films
Willie and his friend
Marcus have a seasonal holiday swindle that has been working well for them.
Willie gets a job as a holiday Santa and Marcus (who is a dwarf) assists as
Santa’s elf. Eventually the two figure out where the company safe is
located, Willie cracks it open, and the two abscond with the abundant
holiday receipts. Unfortunately, Willie’s alcoholism is becoming more of a
problem and it’s hard to keep things undercover when Santa is insulting the
little children, cussing out parents, fornicating in the changing room, and
showing up each morning with a hangover. To make matters worse, there’s an
11-year-old child who is lonely enough to attach himself to “Santa” and
invite Willie and his latest girlfriend over to his house to live with him
and his often-comatose grandmother. It would have been easy enough to make
Bad Santa a relentless exercise in bad taste – and there is plenty of
that on screen – but the filmmakers interject this twisted tale with some
real sympathy for the characters. Willie is an unrepentant sinner, but we
are allowed to see enough of the pain of his past to realize that he is
every bit of an outcast as the clueless child who befriends him. Bad
Santa avoids being sentimental, but it also avoids cynicism. By the
end of the film these damaged people will begin moving toward healing. The
closing image of the film will not be everyone’s idea of a happy ending, but
if you are willing to let this dark comedy be what it is, there’s enough
hope here to squeak out a halo.
Halo and Pitchfork
Rating: One halo.
(Hope somehow shines through in this implausible but often
very funny holiday tale.)
Two pitchforks.
(Alcohol abuse, sexual shenanigans, robbery, swearing, vomiting and other
crude behavior.)
