Bad Santa 2

The original Bad Santa was a refreshing take on the Christmas movie genre. The joy of the time was replaced by a hard cynicism and the usual happy ending was replaced by the (non-fatal shooting) of the main character. It seems like a pretty easy movie to replicate for a sequel, but unfortunately it misses the mark that the original. That said, it still has a lot of charm to distract you from that fact.

Former thief Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) has hit rock bottom, living in his tiny apartment and spending most of his days getting drunk. Just as he is attempting suicide, his de facto son Thurman (Brett Kelly) comes in and with the news that his former partner Marcus (Tony Cox) has gotten in touch and wants him to come to Chicago to pull a job. It turns out that Marcus has a new associate in Willie's mother Sunny (Kathy Bates), whom he despises. Willie is only convinced to help out as a safecracker when Marcus promises to scam Sunny out of any money they get. The target they are hitting is a charity run by the wealthy Diane (Christina Hendricks), who attempts to turn Willie's life around.

While most of the hallmarks of what made the original good are still there, Bad Santa 2 some how ends up becoming a part of the genre it was originally trying to mock. Yes it is foul mouthed and scandalous, but it almost seems conventional. Gone is the hot un-Christmas-like location of Arizona and in it's place we have Chicago, which is the only other snowy city you want to be for Christmas after New York (for that conclusion see the much better sequel movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York). Unlike the original, Willie's ending is a tad more upbeat and hopeful. He learns a lesson about family, a message that all Christmas movies have. This movie also seems to have a lot of interchangeable parts. Take out Lauren Graham and replace her with Christina Hendricks, replace Bernie Mac (RIP) with some less funny white guy. Thank god they didn't try and replace Cloris Leachman.

Luckily, there are some pretty good jokes. While they seem to be rehashes of jokes from the original; Thurman's possible mental disability, Octavia Spencer's turn as a prostitute, Willie's general demeanour, they are pretty funny. Thornton's reactions to other people's comments are almost as good as his sharp tongue. Lines about General MacArthur's Philippines Campaign go hand in hand with calling other Santas pedophiles. Kathy Bates is a huge boost to the film because just the idea of her being a surly old bitch is enticing enough, but she really carries it off.

To Bad Santa 2's benefit, the amount of time passed between it and the original is just between remembering that the first one was funny and complete loss of memory that it exists. If anything though, that is more a testament to the staying power of the first one than the merits of this movie.