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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
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Bad Santa Americans are very protective of their Christmas holiday. The gift-giving, the tree, the feeling in the air, it all makes for one big month-long span of good cheer that is quickly shrugged off upon returning to the real world come January. _Bad Santa_ asks the question, what if there is a person who doesn't get into this Christmas spirit? A person who *ghasp*... hates Christmas? Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World) directs Bad Santa, his first film to see wide release. This is a dark, crass comedy that has found many reviewers complaining that only people who hate Christmas can enjoy a movie like this. I beg to disagree. I think people have fallen so head over heels with the holiday that it's hard for them to step back and took a look at it through the eyes of someone who doesn't feel the exact same way as they do. Bad Santa opens with Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) sitting at a bar, delivering an internal monologue about how as a child, his father beat him and now thirty years later he has to sit in as Santa Claus at the mall while little kids come make their demands and then piss on him. This pessimistic, crude view permeates the majority of the film. Willie and his midget partner Marcus (Tony Cox) work a mall every year and then on Christmas Eve rob the place. Marcus is pretty dedicated to the work, but Willie has definitely begun slacking off, slipping deeply into alcoholism and any woman who will have him. This year, however, things are different. The mall's owner is onto Willie and Marcus' scheme. And even more instrumental, Willie is forced to live with a stereotypical loser kid who believes Willie is really Santa Claus. Somehow the kid is able to make it through Willie's foul mouth and alcoholic tendencies, believing that somewhere deep inside Santa really does care about him. Of course, Willie is just there because it's a free place to stay. If this was all that the story consisted of, it could end up being a total waste of time, but as it is, Willie learns to change things a bit and by the end of the film, a form of redemption is found. Even if it is far from the type of storybook ending that most holiday films provide. Billy Bob Thornton is excellent as always in his role as the rudest Santa Claus the silver screen has ever seen. He carries well the frazzled look of an alcoholic, which makes it all the more compelling when he finds some small place in his heart to care about things. Bad Santa is certainly not a film for everyone. Those who prize Christmas above movies will certainly be offended by this off-beat look at the holidays. Those who are a bit critical anyway and ready for a large dose of laughs will certainly find something to enjoy in Bad Santa. Trae Cadenhead 12/16/2003
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