Bad Santa

A safe-cracker poses as a department store Santa in order to rob his employers.

Bad Santa is not the pinnacle of comedy that some have made it out to be, but it’s not the mindless, low-brow entertainment others have accused it of being either.

Director Terry Zwigoff is definitely in control of the narrative. As we watch Billy Bob Thorton’s character plunge deeper and deeper into depression and self loathing, Zwigoff is subtly needling our own holiday cynicism and disdain. It’s a fine line that Zwigoff walks well, creating a film too funny to be serious and too serious to be funny. Unfortunately this is also one of the film’s biggest thorns.

Bad Santa will undoubtedly be funnier on repeated viewings, where the viewer will be numbed to Thorton’s emotional free-fall, but after the first viewing you don’t walk out with the emotional high a pure comedy will give you. Still, Bad Santa does stay with you, and the extra emotional depth will serve it well in the long-run by giving it credibility far beyond the low-brow fare it was marketed as.