The Christmas season just got a lot less joyous in this very dark
comedy. Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) is a con man and a thief
who teams up with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox), a midget, for a very
special scam each year during the holiday season. Willie gets a job as
Santa Claus at a shopping mall, his pal tags along as an elf, and they
use their employee status to crack mall security and rob stores blind
just before Christmas. However, there's one flaw to this plan -- Willie
is a
bitter, foul-mouthed and
perpetually grouchy alcoholic who doesn't care for kids, and it's all
he can do to keep himself from getting fired while on the job. The
mall's manager (John Ritter, in his last film appearance) is certain
something's wrong with the Santa he's hired, so he asks the mall's chief
of security (Bernie Mac) to do some research on Willie. Meanwhile, one
of the kids Willie is forced to talk to becomes a regular customer;
overweight, awkward, and the frequent target of bullies, the boy manages
to arouse something like sympathy from Willie, who tries to give him
some advice and develops something vaguely resembling Christmas sprit
along the way. Bad Santa was directed by Terry Zwigoff, who enjoyed
previous success with Crumb and Ghost World.
Directed By:
Terry Zwigoff
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