Bad Santa 2 Review
Bad Santa 2 is a strange movie. On one hand the movie has some amazing one-liners from Billy Bob Thornton, as he reprises his role as Willie from the first film. On the other hand, the film is many years late and has a slew of disappointingly shallow side characters thrown into the mix.
The film begins with Willie being lured into going to Chicago by Tony Cox's character Marcus. Essentially, they are going to Chicago to rip off a charity organization. This premise on paper sounds fun, but the execution is sloppy. When Willie gets to Chicago he reunites with his Mother played by Kathy Bates. She calls Willie *beep* constantly throughout the movie, as if the film is trying to force-feed the idea that she is the reason Willie is such a bad man. The problem here is that no one wanted a character in this movie to combat with side Willie and there are multiple scenes in this film where I felt her and Willie were battling for screen time with the latter being the obvious winner. Her character felt very forced, and it honestly started to derail the film as it endured.
Another returning character, Thurman Murman, played by Brett Kelley, is funny at times, but once again it was forced. His character just isn't as funny as he was in the original 2003 hit, as he has aged and seeing this character aged does not just suddenly make it funny. The innocence of him as a child is what made his character so funny in the first movie, and now it just feels annoying because the audience is left saying "grow up already." While his character would have been funny as a little cameo, it just is not funny having him through the duration of the film.
The reason the first Bad Santa worked so well is because the film contrasted pure arrogance and wrath with innocence which made for some truly awkward scenarios to play out. This film tries really hard to be way too raunchy and over-the-top that it misses the point entirely. The side characters in this film include the stereotypical cheating husband boss, nerdy security henchman, and a woman who is more interested in old men than the typical good looking guy. These characters are extremely overacted and they cannot hold a candle to John Ritter and Bernie Mac in the original Bad Santa. It is as if the film feels the need to be raunchier and more vulgar to keep up with the current trend of comedy, but Bad Santadid not need to up this factor so much, it just needed funny scenarios involving Willie.
That being said, there are moments in this film that work really well, and all of them involve Willie. Billy Bob Thornton is on his A-game here and the movie would be a total trash-bag if it wasn't for his saving performance. The scene involving him battle another "jolly" Santa Clause was perfectly played out and had the audience laughing out loud multiple times. It's just too bad that the movie focuses too much on the exaggerated side characters and Willie's mother in particular.
Overall, Bad Santa 2 does not live up to the first one by any means. It has annoying side characters, a lack of focus, and it even goes as far as trying to implement a twist at the end that is not earned at all. I honestly wish rather than a full-fledged sequel we got some 10 minute shorts of "funny situations" involving Willie. It would be much funnier than this full-fledged movie without overstaying its welcome with so many unwanted characters. If you enjoyed the original Bad Santa, then you will definitely laugh in some cases, but you will leave the theatre rolling your eyes nonetheless.
Final Score: 2/5