“Bad Santa” is crude, disgusting, violent, graphic, and has a lot of unsuitable content I wouldn’t recommend for a family out on Christmas, but it’s a great piece of comedy filmmaking by director Terry Zwigoff. There is a lot to like in this excellent character study, especially the two main characters Thurman and Willie, both of whom are opposites in every form of the word. Though their dichotomous relationship becomes something to watch with the highest regard allowing for comedy and warm moments.
The kid is unflinching in his optimism and love for Santa and he’s so pure he takes all of Thorton’s character’s abuse without a single impure emotion or thought and through him, Thorton’s character becomes purer and slowly wears down in his sensibility towards children and life in general. The kid makes him better in human nature and in spirit. He screams, yells, uses all forms of the word “fuck”, breaks his stuff and the child continues in his innocence towards him with a smile because perhaps he sees something in him he never saw in himself. They manage to reciprocate in their nature as the child teaches Thorton something about being human, and Thorton gives the kid a guardian angel of a sorts; albeit a rather rough and tumble angel, but still he manages to become his father figure.
Don’t get me wrong though, there’s not a warm fuzzy bone in this films body with swearing, strong sex scenes, and every form of a of gratuitous violence, but you have to appreciate its intentions and its characters, and what the writers are trying to pull off. Especially through its characters and “Grinch”-esque story. Thorton gives a great performance here as the gruff character Willie, you just love to hate, but also know has some form of humanity within him; it just takes a lot of time for the audience to actually see it. The small gestures are the things that signal to the audience Willie’s evolution as a human being, the small gestures are mere inconveniences to him, but to Thurman they’re like a pot of gold.
The small things mean a lot to him because they’re what he doesn’t have and to the audience it’s also a big step up for the character of Willy whose personality changes for us on-screen. It’s a great aspect the writers accentuate and turn into a big deal for the characters to experience. This is ultimately one of the funniest and well formed character studies and comedies I’ve seen in a while, and Disney did a disservice by attempting to shelve it. Bad Disney. If you’re looking to depart from the usual sweet and wholesome holiday films and just want a mean-spirited, secular holiday film which spits and kicks the holiday up and down the block, check this out. Well acted, along with a great story, it’s worth watching during the Christmas season.