Bad Santa 2

As far as unnecessary sequels go, Bad Santa 2 isn't awful even if those moments are present. It lacks the heart of the original and despite its willingness to provoke, still feels like the edges have been sanded off. However, thanks to an opening front loaded with the best jokes and the very smart choice to keep it around the 90 minute mark, it remains passable.

Billy Bob Thornton's jaded cynicism still works for this character even if it's probably just him doing it for the paycheck this time round. Kathy Bates as his mum is a fun casting choice she clearly has some fun with and it's so nice to see Brett Kelly as Thurman Merman again. He's the closest thing this film has to a heart and it's worth watching just for his cute performance.

Mark Waters was a very strange choice to direct this since he's somehow both over and under qualified for the material and yet he does an okay job. It's shot like a sitcom in an inoffensive fashion and it's more than happy to let the writing do basically all the heavy lifting for the comedy rather than utilising any clever visual gags.

First of all, I loved the first one. My absolute favorite Christmas movie of all time. Most other Christmas movies are about magic and all that. How about some realism, dosed with cynicism, sarcasm, curses and other insults? Now that's what Christmas deserves and that's what we all deserve for Christmas.

Some of the comments referred to the first movie as *the original*. Not quite accurate, because this is no remake.

Two reasons I liked this one too:

• Billy Bob & Tony Cox .. a dream combo .. foul mouthed and screwed up to the bone. I'd watch these guys just sit opposite each other and talk trash to each other for days.

And one more thing: Of course this movie can't beat the first one. Also, it doesn't need to. It's fun. That's what any holiday should be about. I had fun watching it. Merry Christmas!

6.4/10

Strained black comedy sequel reunites--for no reason that really makes any sense--Willie, the world's most vile Santa and his foulmouthed, dwarf aide-de-camp Marcus for yet another score, this time at a Chicago charity event on Christmas Eve. That darn kid returns, only this time he's a man (sort of), and as what's supposed to be an added bonus: battle-ax Sunny--Willie's equally crass mother (Bates, though even she is helpless against this flimsy material). This unnecessary, uninspired, and untimely follow-up doesn't have much of a plot to keep it afloat, playing mostly as an exercise in unfunny jokes, profane dialogue, and bodily fluids. Forced and forgettable, worth a few fleeting chuckles thanks to a well-chosen cast that elevates it as much as they possibly can. **

BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FILM. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST!

Don't get me wrong. The original "Bad Santa" is a film I love to watch. Today when we were watching it struck me that there were 3 Academy Award Winners in "Bad Santa 2" Kathy Bates Won Best Actress for "Misery" Octavia Spenser won Best Supporting Actress for "The Help". Billy Bob Thornton won An Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Sling-blade"

So why it is obvious all of them must of been paid well to do this film. Now I loved the original film. This film is okay but I will not go out of my way to watch it again!

In this film its been 10 years since the events of the original film. Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) teams up with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is chubby and cheery and now grown-up Thurman Merman, a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie's sliver of humanity. Mommy issues arise when the pair are joined by Willie's horror story of a mother, Sunny Soke, who raises the bar for the gang's ambitions, while somehow lowering the standards of criminal behavior.

There is some big laughs in this film. There is just not as many as the first one. I was disappointed because the first one was a laugh a minute! This film is RATED R so parents keep children away from this film.

KEEP IN MIND if you don't like crude behavior then don't watch this. This film is raunchy but I could not help but to laugh.

"Bad Santa 2" is frequently hilarious, if one enjoys raunchy no-holds-barred humor. In a world of oppressive mandates for politically correct action, speech and thought, it is a breath of fresh air, mercilessly lampooning every liberal sacred cow imaginable.

It is not a great film. "Bad Santa" was amusing, but not particularly memorable and the sequel will undoubtedly also quickly fade from memory. The plot is largely familiar. The characters don't grow emotionally and are roughly as misanthropic, misogynistic, cynical, self-destructive, abrasive, etc., at the conclusion as they were at the start. It succeeds in creating humor by placing ridiculous characters in improbable circumstances. The humor is bawdy, uninhibited and confrontational. The jokes would make Lenny Bruce blush.

The film fails to rise above its station in its use of alcohol and nudity. Alcohol can be used for burlesque effect by turning a normally staid individual into a stumbling clown, or it can be used to strip away the character's inhibitions, exposing raw anger, resentment, fear and other emotions for all to see, as in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Nudity can be used for titillation, or make the character seem vulnerable, primal or honest, as in "Teachers."

BS2 uses uninhibited, unrestrained, brutally honest language to convey the frustrations, anger and other emotions of the characters. It is at times shocking or amusing, but consistently honest. But alcohol does not strip away any emotions or public façades, as these characters have no inhibitions to strip away. The brief nudity seems immature and puerile compared with the dialogue. One character has on-camera sex in half a dozen scenes with several different partners, with both partners fully dressed (at least from the camera's POV). This is an actor known for a highly erotic scene in a 2001 film. What little nudity is presented in the film seems cheesy and dishonest compared with the brutally honest dialogue.

The film delivers more laughs than many comedies. Production values are adequate. Performances are uniformly excellent. The script is underdeveloped with several major plot holes. It isn't destined to become a classic, but succeeds admirably as a raunchy celebration of political incorrectness.