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.

"It's starting to feel like Christmas." Willie Soke (Thornton) has been living a whiskey filled existence since the double cross he experienced during Christmas a few years ago. When his old partner shows up and wants him to get back into the game he agrees because… he's Willie. After realizing that their new partner is his mother (Bates) he second guesses the entire thing, but the chance of stealing millions changes his mind. Everything is going to plan, until Thurman shows up. This is a movie that I changed my opinion on after watching the special features, which never happens. While watching it I did laugh, but it was basically the exact same movie as the first one. No twists were surprising and even most of the jokes were reused. I loved the first one and did enjoy this but kept thinking, this is just another sequel that seemed to be made to make money off a name and that's it. While watching the features Billy Bob said that this is a movie made for fans of the original. He said the movie was made with them in mind and if they get new fans that's great but it wasn't the goal of the film. After hearing that context I have to think the movie did what it set out to do. That being said, if you liked the first one you will like this as well, nothing new but just a funny movie with heart that is worth your time. Overall, basically a remake of the original, but I did laugh quite a bit. Not as good as the first one at all but worth seeing if you are a fan of the first one. I give this a B-.

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.

I really enjoyed this. I tend not to have particularly high standards when watching movies. I expected a degenerate comedy, chock full of inappropriate humour and also laced with profanity. There were also countless scenes that made one want to laugh and throw up a little, given how distasteful they were! (Which is great!)

I wanted to see more of Bad Santa, the little person, and Therman Merman! Bad Santa 2 did not disappoint! I was laughing throughout. I'm not one to look at movies through a critical lens. Even so, I could see this movie wasn't as good as the first one, in terms of overall plot and character development.

Nonetheless, I got to see my favourite characters one more time on the big screen. And I laughed throughout. It was like seeing old friends again!

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