Reel Jolly series: The “Bad Santa” Movies

To wrap up my Reel Jolly holiday review series, I wanted to revisit a couple dark comedies for the older audience - the “Bad Santa” movies. Now, while the 2003 movie, “Bad Santa,” garnered positive reactions from both critics and audiences, the belated 2016 sequel failed to match the original’s success.

In the 2003 dark comedy “Bad Santa,” the crotchety Willie T. Stokes and his partner reunite once a year for a holiday con. Posing as a mall Santa and his elf, they rip off shopping outlets on Christmas Eve. This year, however, Willie is falling apart.

He’s depressed and an alcoholic, and his erratic behavior draws the suspicion of the head of mall security. But when befriending a small boy brings out his slightly kinder side, Willie begins to wonder if there is still some hope for him.

Despite being mostly well-liked by critics and audiences, some of the audiences were sharply divided, generally either enjoying its really dark humor (which can get a tad bit offensive) or just simply hating its mean-spirited tone. Overtime, however, it has developed a significant following and is widely considered a cult classic alternative Christmas movie for adults.

This was actually my first time checking out this dark comedy in quite a few years. Throughout the movie, “Bad Santa” delivers quite a few moments that can be a bit on the excessively crude side (okay maybe a little more than a bit). While some of those moments can actually give you some fairly good laughs, there’s also parts of the movie that can be surprisingly heartwarming.

In one of the comedy’s subplots, Willie finds a small bit of caring and redemption through his relationship with the naive kid, Thurman Merman, which can actually be very touching. Willie sometimes gives the young Thurman some advice that can be both a little helpful and also highly unconventional. There’s a scene where Thurman gives Willie a bizarre, hand-carved wooden pickle as a Christmas present that highlights the movie’s mix of dark comedy and unexpected heart.

“Bad Santa” has initially been praised for Billy Bob Thornton’s delivery (along with Bernie Mac and John Ritter), sharp writing and it’s ability to be both hilarious and unexpectedly poignant.

Now, let’s get to the 2016 sequel that wasn’t nearly as humorous as the 2003 movie.

Fueled by cheap booze, greed and hatred, Willie Stokes teams up with his angry sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is the still cheery Thurman Merman, a ray of sunshine who tries to bring out Willie’s sliver of humanity.

Some slight 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.

While the 2003 movie was simply humorous, a tad crude and surprisingly heartwarming during some scenes, the belated 2016 sequel, “Bad Santa 2,” lacked majorly in the humor department for sure and even lacked a bit of the heart that the previous movie had.

Even though I’m just a casual fan of the first movie and only seen the sequel once before this revisit, I still think that this sequel featured less funny gags that the first movie is known for. Even this sequel’s story ended up being a little bland.

Sure, the sequel is rather disappointing compared to the original, a couple highlights that tries to make the sequel somewhat entertaining. Actress Kathy Bates did a decent job providing some comedic moments as Willie’s mother (also could be crude and a little off-color) and most of the scenes featuring the grown up Thurman Merman were somewhat entertaining.

“Bad Santa 2” was widely panned by critics and audiences as an unnecessary, formulaic sequel that fails to recapture the original’s wit, charm and heart, relying instead of unfunny and forced dark humor.

• Billy Bob Thornton has said that he was genuinely intoxicated during some of filming. In the escalator fall scene, he actually passed out after drinking three glasses of red wine for breakfast followed by vodkas, cranberry juice, and a few Bud Lights.

• This was John Ritter's final acting appearance in a movie and it is dedicated to his memory.

• Brett Kelly has said when he's let his hair grow during the holiday season, it's not at all surprising that people will recognize him from the movie. Kelly has said the line "Fix you some sandwiches" is one he hears often.

• Billy Bob Thornton said that he's had eight-year-olds approach him about his role in the movie. Thornton was stunned that parents would even allow their kids to watch that movie at that age.

• Jack Nicholson read the script and wanted to do the film, but had to turn it down because he was already committed to Something's Gotta Give (2003).

• According to Brett Kelly in a later retrospective on the film, director Terry Zwigoff and Billy Bob Thornton were protective of the child actor. Kelly believes that due to the film's subject matter, Zwigoff and Thornton felt responsible to be protective of Kelly whenever possible.

• Brett Kelly was slimmer after becoming an adult, but purposely gained more than 40 pounds to reprise his role as Thurman. Brett consumed many smoked meat sandwiches in Montreal, where the film was shot, to quickly obtain the desired weight.

• Lauren Graham was not able to reprise her role as Sue due to her commitment on Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016).

• On a recent interview with Billy Bob Thornton, the actor begged the producers to de-emphasize his character's drinking and focus on the real story instead and the producers agreed.

• Kathy Bates wore a wig while playing Mrs. Claus, which she removes when out of costume. Her real hair was short due to filming American Horror Story (2011) at the same time Bad Santa 2 (2016) was being shot.