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	Bad Santa Director: Terry Zwigoff Plot: Bad Santa Willie has a great scam going, him and elf partner Marcus rip off a different department store every year and then vanish. Willie's alcoholic behaviour makes this increasingly more difficult, however they try one more heist. Only this time a strange kid and Santa loving ho ho ho get in the way. Writer: Glenn Ficarra Starring: Billy Bob Thornton   Tony Cox John Ritter Genre: Comedy Cert: Critic - Review:               I should start by specifying that although Santa may be bad, Bad Santa is good. Damn good. Damn funny. Damn I love this movie. I find it hard to gush over comedies these days, as although there are a lot of funny ones out there few tease your naughty side like this one. It is a dark humour, based around failure, oddness and humiliatingly identifiable situations. The script is sharp and rolls along at a thunderous pace, never really letting you up for air. Which is a good thing, as otherwise the sentimentality wouldn't sneak up on you, it would be saccharine and overdone. As it is, you don't mind the little bit of emotion that sneaks through, it seems appropriate and well timed, enough to finish the movie with a wry smile. There are good elements throughout this movie, the cast is superb and never miss a beat, the settings are recognisably mundane and normal, and the characters are oddball enough to standout clearly without seeming out of place. Thornton, as per usual, plays an absolute blinder as a booty loving (watch it, you'll see), drunken, obnoxious and downright despicable Santa. The script has fed him lines that he has turned from funny to side splitting, pant wettingly good one liners. He gleefully destroys kids hopes and dreams with his dry delivery, and there are several memorable lines. Away from the humour, Thornton can captures the despair and desperation of his drunk St Nick with pinpoint accuracy. You never pity him, but regularly identify with his despair (maybe through more sober eyes though). His drunk is certainly a step up on Cage's in Leaving Las Vegas, but as this was not a moral and righteous tale no Oscar for Billy. Billy needs an Oscar! Cox is a wonderfully malicious little bastard as Santa's elf. It's a nice swerve as you begin the movie believing him to be quite a nice little thief, but as the film progresses you see him get darker and more desperate. Bernie Mac pops up as a security guard, and although he provides us with yet another interesting and colourful character you are never really shown any motivation or history behind him. He is possibly the least identifiable character, although he still provides much entertainment. Ritter is his usual jittery self, once again showing he has quite a deft comedic touch. It is a shame he is no longer with us. The biggest standout is Kelly as the kid. He portrays stupidity and oddness to such a degree it is genius. His self defecating movements show a character devoid of confidence and common sense. In fact, he seems to be without any cognitive capacity at all. It is quite a feat of acting, putting the others in this movie to shame (quite a feat) and outshining all the other child actors around. This is a damn fine movie, I recommend it highly. Laugh. Laugh very loudly.