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It has occurred to me that the film “Bad Santa,” which was released in 2003, may have inadvertently served as the connective tissue between the genuinely subversive comedies of John Waters and the slack, fake-transgressive gross-out comedies that are currently fashionable, such as “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and the films that are part of the “Hangover” franchise. In spite of the fact that it was released a full 13 years after the first film, “Bad Santa 2” offers some supporting evidence for the argument I’ve been making.
The original “Bad Santa,” which starred Billy Bob Thornton in the career-high title role (the character’s actual name is Willie Stokes, but few in the movie or outside of it ever actually call him that), was a scrappy independent movie directed by Terry Zwigoff and executive produced by Joel and Ethan Coen. It was a deliberately nasty fusion of heist picture and black comedy with a touch of redemptive storytelling that elevated it to nearly-humanist levels. However, in an extremely irritable manner. In spite of the fact that the film did not earn more than $100 million at domestic box offices, its performance was slightly above that of a typical “cult movie.”
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Other areas that matter have shown that the “Bad Santa” brand is successful. Just take a look at who is returning for the sequel: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, and poor Brett Kelly (who played the role of sad but highly unappealing snotnose kid Thurman Merman) are all back, and newcomers such as Kathy Bates and Christina Hendricks are among the notable additions. Octavia Spencer makes a brief appearance in the film in the role of a hooker who is employed to help now-21-year-old-Thurman get rid of his “cherry.” On the soundtrack, you can find Bob Dylan performing his version of “Winter Wonderland.” Think about it: Bob Dylan doesn’t want to go to Sweden to pick up his Nobel Prize, but he’ll give permission for the “Bad Santa” sequel to use one of his songs in the movie.
Mark Waters, whose previous film “Mean Girls” strongly suggested that he knows how to make people laugh, is directing this sequel. There is a clear indication that he has lost his mojo in his subsequent filmography, which includes “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.” It is immediately apparent that Waters does not fare as well as Zwigoff did in certain domains, such as creating believable characters, in this particular scenario. However, considering the requirements of this movie at this particular time, he does not really need to be present here at all.
Bad Santa 2 Quiz
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Bad Santa 2 quiz.
At the beginning of the film, Willie, played by Thornton, is shown to be suffering from alcoholism-induced depression and is actively considering ending his life. He is rescued by a visit from his now-neighbor Thurman, who brings with him some news from Cox’s Marcus. This visit couldn’t have come at a better time. Willie is less than thrilled to hear from his one-time partner in crime (viewers of the first film will remember that things between the two did not end well then), and he is even less thrilled upon being persuaded to visit Chicago, where Willie learns that the brains behind a new job is his long-estranged criminal mother, Sunny (Bates). The three individuals are going to assume false identities in order to steal from a well-known and lucrative children’s charity, but it will be for nothing in the end because the corrupt leader of the charity steals almost all of its profits for his own personal gain anyway. This head has a gorgeous wife, played by Christina Hendricks, who is completely blameless and is also sobering up from her drinking problem. She feels sorry for Willie because he is having trouble keeping everything together even though he is trying to casing the joint.
Do you see how all of these parts are supposed to fall into place after they have been aligned? Of course you do. The plot of “Bad Santa,” such as it is, serves little purpose other than to provide a linear framework upon which to hang a large number of jokes, just like the plots of so many other comedies of its ilk that have been released in recent years. This is not a formula that is unique to comedies made in the modern era; in fact, many films made by the Marx Brothers follow this same pattern. However, the manner in which something like this is carried out is always a determining factor; to put it another way, the jokes all need to be funny for this to work. This distinction is what elevates “Duck Soup” to the status of a classic, whereas “Go West” does not quite reach that level in the Marx Brothers’ canon. Regarding “Bad Santa,” the joke batting average for that one is somewhere around.400. And I’m being generous here. Even when the jokes don’t land, it’s hard to say no to Thornton when he’s in his curmudgeonly mode. He has the ability to make a line that is not even remotely funny, such as “Are you a complete f**king retard,” hilarious in a dry way, which I suppose is kind of the point. I was surprised that there wasn’t a gag reel playing over the end credits because it’s obvious that Bates and Cox have a lot of fun with the way Thornton interacts with them on screen. It most certainly would have been preferable to what IS seen over the end credits, which is a disgusting gag inspired by a practice that was first alluded to in popular culture in a film directed by John Waters. That movie is called “Pecker,” by the way.
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However. This sequel actively devalues the compassion-on-the-knife-edge-of-misantropy that distinguished the first film in favor of a mainstream gross-out cartoon. This is especially evident in the portrayal of Thurman, who in this version isn’t so much misunderstood and unloved as he is dumber than a bag of rocks. It would appear that the market will not accept anything less.
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