BAD SANTA (2003) (***1/2)

To call this movie a black comedy is being kind. It’s a coal black satire of the holiday season. I hardly ever notice cursing in movies now, but this one even pricked up my ears. Maybe it's the context of something innocent like Santa, but this film even shocked me. These are not complaints; they are the biggest compliments I can give this film.

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton, SLING BLADE) is a foul-mouthed alcoholic safe-cracker, who works with a black dwarf named Marcus (Tony Cox, FRIDAY). Every year they pose as Santa Claus and his elf at malls. On Christmas Eve, they rob the mall and live off their ill-gotten gains for the next year. This time around Willie ends up meeting a kid named Thurman (Brett Kelly, OUT COLD), who is an absolute hopeless loser. He starts to cling to Willie hoping that Santa will give him a present for Christmas. At first Willie doesn’t want to have anything to do with the kid, but ends up staying at his house.

The film skewers all the traditions of Christmas with a foul mouth and biting satire. The entire cast is great. It also includes the late John Ritter (TV’s THREE’S COMPANY) as the mall manager, Bernie Mac (OCEAN’S 11) as Gin, the mall security chief and Lauren Graham (TV’s GILMORE GIRLS) as Willie’s Santa-fetish girlfriend Sue. The interaction of Willie and Thurman is classic. Thornton is pitch perfect and Kelly is surprisingly good. Willie isn't heartless, but his innards have been pickled and frost bitten over the years. Thurman is a pure innocent, to a fault perhaps. They are the perfect odd couple.

Though the film doesn’t hold back, it does have the true nature of the holidays at its core. The film finds a happy ending, but it’s like finding out that your house burned down and then the fireman hands you the collar of your cat and says, “At least this didn’t burn.”

The main thing to note is that this is not a film for kids. I was intrigued by the fact that there were so many children in the theater where I saw it. Do parents not care about bringing a six year old kid to an R-rated film anymore? I wonder if it’s because they just assumed family film from the title or they just don’t care.

A lot of press has been given to this film being mean-spirited and putting the last nail in anything being sacred anymore. But what’s a bigger sign of deteriorating morality: adults making a black satire for adults about the shallowness and consumerism of Christmas or adults who take children who probably still believe in Santa Claus to a film for adults about the shallowness and consumerism of Christmas?