Bad Santa

There are exactly two big, heartwarming moments in Terry Zwigoff’s gloriously rude black comedyBad Santa: The first involves a raging, drunken mall Santa repeatedly punching an adolescent boy in the face, and the second centers on the delivery of a plush toy drenched in blood. Perfect as the titular half-shaven rummy, Billy Bob Thorton presides over his own private hell at a department store in a suburban mall, where he is working his annual robbery scheme. But before he can crack the safe, he’s upended by a set of ironically enamored characters incapable of seeing past his gin-soaked beard. Bad Santa isn’t exactly It’s A Wonderful Life, but deep within the accumulation of ugliness and bile lurks some genuine Christmas cheer—though it may take nose plugs and a shovel to find it. 

Updated 12/12/2011