Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Bad Santa

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Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 11-25-2003, 10:25 PM:

Billy Bob as a completely disillusioned, rude, obnoxious, self destructive, drunk Santa.

Yeah, that makes for a good movie.

10 minutes into the film I wished it would end. Sadly, it did not.

***EDIT***

Actually, now that I've had time to think about what I saw, Bad Santa wasn't that bad. I did get tired of hearing "Fuck-MotherFucker-Shit-GodDamnit-Son of a Bitch" every other word, but as someone else pointed out below, it was different than what people would expect. I cant' wait to see the refund desires today and the weekend. The car scene with Sanat and the chick got a huge laugh out of me anyway...

I guess that sometimes it helps to think about what you've seen rather than posting off the cuff.

[ 11-27-2003, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: Jason Black ]

Posted by Natasha Romel Arens (Member # 2020) on 11-26-2003, 04:52 AM:

quote:
Billy Bob as a completely disillusioned, rude, obnoxious, self destructive, drunk Santa.

Yeah, that makes for a good movie.

yeah, actually it does. I'm so excited for people coming in expecting to see something completely opposite from what their thinking. Bad Santa along with In The Cut are two of the most thoughtfully entertaining movies of the year. Any one who walks out after half an hour for a refund has lost more than their money they've also lost any sense of humanity they had. I will probably tell parents that come with young kids that they may not want to watch it with them, that said, i would hope kids can see this on their own. Of course this is all my oppinion but I'm proud to show this film at my theater. Enjoy if you will if not f**ck me santa.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 11-26-2003, 10:54 AM:

You go girl!

Posted by Bruk Mogos (Member # 2043) on 11-26-2003, 08:19 PM:

I really enjoyed BAD SANTA it's something different, the kids who came with their parents seem to enjoy it to more than the adult. Hey what the heck it's something you don't see on movies often.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 12-01-2003, 09:38 AM:

I liked the movie. While it wasn't as good as I expected, it still gave me a reason to watch a movie in a weekend where most of the top 10 movies are either for kids or just plain mediocre.
I mean you had to choose either formulaic bad kid movies like Cat in the Hat or Haunted Mansion, or mediocre grownup movies like The Missing or Gothika.

Billy Bob Thornton was pretty funny. Lauren Graham does a nice job in her role. Because of the cynical first half, it was easier to take the sappy second half compared to the sap overdose I got in the second half of Elf(a movie that is pretty good for families, but a bit too kiddish for grownup singles).

John Ritter has a small role and disappears from the movie in the final third. Bernie Mac is good as usual. The guy who played the fat kid was annoying at first, but that was intentional as it would put us in the role of actually agreeing with some of Billy Bob's nasty comments.

What I didn't like are the stupid parents who brought their little kids to this movie(there were at least 10 or 15 preteen kids). As a guy who has seen mostly grownup movies as a kid and didn't like too many of those made for kids movies, I tend to support parents who don't overprotect their kids. As far as the Santa myth being destroyed for kids, I don't care about that either because you have to be a special ed student not to know Santa is fake by the time you are 8 or 9. But this movie is not a Godfather. It is like attending a ratpack roast with a bunch of kids. It's like one of the groom's buddies bringing his kid to a bachelor's party. In short, I just feel a bit raw because it is bad etiquette to your fellow moviegoers. I can't laugh as much at some of the F me Santa scenes with a lil kid laughing out loud right next to me. I can't laugh as much when some parent has to take her kid who is whining about getting bored. If your kid is really a precocious movie geek, then by all means, feel free to bring your kid to this movie. Other than that, if you are just bringing the kid to save on babysitting, I have a suggestion. Drop your kid off at another movie in the multiplex. If you think your freaking kid is old enough to watch Bad Santa, then maybe he is old enough to watch a movie without your presence at the multiplex.

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 12-04-2003, 10:22 AM:

I thought this film was great! I think it is pretty rare to see a comedy done this well, but it isn't for everyone. It pushed the limits even further than I expected it to. Billy Bob was fantastic, as were Bernie Mac and John Ritter in their supporting roles. This is a great movie for anyone that can appreciate the humor in sarcasm and cynicism.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-04-2003, 09:01 PM:

This may be the best Farrely Brothers movie the Farrely Brothers didn't make. Billy Bob's "Willie T. Soke" character is such an irredeemable scumbag that I found myself just laughing out loud at his Santa job situation. Who had it worse? Wille allowing snot-dripping kids to sit on his lap or the kids having to sit on a Santa who just pissed himself?

It is surprising how many chances this movie takes in offending the audience. Just about every boundary of good taste is broken, especially the touchy boundary of being verbally (and even physically) harmful to kids. Yet the movie managed to make me laugh out loud instead of getting annoyed. Perhaps one thing that makes the show's bad taste work is Willie T. Soke has the same amount of disregard for himself as he does anyone else.

I think it is a great thing John Ritter's last movie appearance was in a good movie rather than a piece of totally forgettable dreck.

Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 12-09-2003, 12:51 AM:

quote:
Bad Santa along with In The Cut are two of the most thoughtfully entertaining movies of the year.

I liked Bad Santa, but I thought I deserved more than $7.05/hr for watching In The Cut. Worst movie of the year IMHO.

I had no idea Bad Santa would be what it was. It really blew me away that parents of these 8 year olds would let their children be in a movie where Billy Bob was cussing at them the way he was (unless that was done in ADR).

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 12-09-2003, 09:54 AM:

Attendance: 2003/12/09 19:10, Regal River Oaks Cinema 8, Decautr, Al, Auditorium 8 (28 ft. wide), Flat, screen 26 ft wide.

I enjoyed this movie. There were a total of around 8 people in this Monday night showing, which isn't bad considering this is in Decatur.

I loved the way this Santa was so crude. This is another "suspend your logical thinking" movie. A Santa that acted like that in a large popular mall wouldn't last a day. The public outcry would be terrible, probably leading to media coverage of the complaints, if that scenario actually happened.

I think it's great to see a Santa tell kids off and use profanity in front of them and show up to work drunk. It's something you don't see used in movies and TV shows that much.

The kid and his grandmother had a lot in common. They both had just enough brain to make them function. I loved how "Let me make you some sandwiches" seemed to be their most often spoken line. In real life, I don't think that kid wouldn't have been able to make C's on his report card.

Spoiler (maybe)

Near the end of the movie, I guess they figured, "Hey, there's an element of many movies we haven't had yet -- murder and mayhem -- let's have some murder and mayhem now". It seemed a bit out of place in the movie.

All in all, I recommend this one. I think it'll be a good party movie. Unfortunately, its Christmas theme limits the time of year that most people will want to see it.

The presentation was flawless, as is typical for this theatre. However, a new record was set for number of commercials played. 13 (yes, thirteen) commercial things were played before the previews. 7 out of the 20 minutes of pre-movie material were composed of commercials instead of movie previews. Someone's definitely working overtime in Colorado at Regal. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mathew Molloy (Member # 666) on 12-10-2003, 03:26 AM:

quote:
I had no idea Bad Santa would be what it was. It really blew me away that parents of these 8 year olds would let their children be in a movie where Billy Bob was cussing at them the way he was (unless that was done in ADR).

Jim, we're having a heck of a time trying to keep parents from just dropping their kids off at the theatre for this film!

However, the woman who was the on-set teacher came by to watch the film the other day. She said that during filming, the parents of the children were warned of the language. She also said they prepped the children for some of Billy Bob's more outragous antics (like beating up the reindeer). She told me that he was great with the kids and it was a really fun film to work on.

We've been running this film for a few weeks now and I've watched it twice and I hear most of the dialogue during every show - it still makes me laugh!

One of my favorite lines that's rarely heard is from the guy accusing Billy Bob of being gay...

-Ambiguous Guy- "You're as queer as a ten dollar bill!"

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 12-14-2003, 04:56 AM:

Hilarious and refreshingly non-PC. BB Thornton is great, as always.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 12-14-2003, 12:53 PM:

AMC Hamilton, 12/13, 5:45 PM matinee. Hall #2, attendance ~40-50.

No, I wasn't flustered by all that was in Bad Santa. No, there was only 1 pre-teen boy (he sat with his father). Yes, I got to laugh my ass off.

Willie T. Soke could have been my father! He too was drunk, mean, chased women and p9^%ed off everyone. At least Willie T. got to kick other people's ass.

Also, this must be a year for dwarfs in Xmas movies. Tony Cox is Willie T.'s elf and does it well. Peter Dinklage had a part in Elf as the children's book author called in to do a pitch on Xmas Eve. (Dinklage was in the arthouse hit The Station Agent.)

Bad Santa oughta be a contender for Best Picture and Best Actor. Unfortunately the Academy doesn't look too kindly on comedy. OTOH this was from Dimension, the B-movie division of Miramax, so there might be some latitude.

Presentation: Image was good -- I don't think I saw the CRAP Code. [Cool]

If the CRAP Code is missing score one for Miramax! Sound was good in Dolby SR -- it defaulted to SR at the "Feature Presentation" > R1 join. Digital preshow was dim; the bulb was getting low. [Wink]

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-15-2003, 08:28 AM:

Absolutely hilaroius and well worth seeing. Its going to be a total surprise for someone that has not read any reviews of it. I wouldn't recommend taking kids to this though...at least not really young kids.

Mark

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 12-15-2003, 02:28 PM:

Hilarious film.
Billy Bob Thornton is great
Lauren Graham is Hot
The kid was dumb [Smile]

Perfect for a dark comedy [thumbsup]

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 01-16-2004, 01:47 AM:

I finally saw it... I liked it [Wink]

.. BB's character was great... The kid was really annoying in the beginning but I soon felt sorry for him... BB should do more comedy.. I was actually surprised by his performance.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-04-2004, 11:28 AM:

Ok, so I'm about 10 months late, but a friend gave me the DVD and said "watch this, you will love it, it's your kind of movie." Having never caught it when it was in the theaters, I figured what the heck. Now I am kicking myself for not seeing it theatrically.

This may have been the best film of 2003. In fact, I think it is. I haven't enjoyed a movie so much in a long, long time. That first hour inparticularly left me in pain from laughing so hard.

This is the kind of original film we need to see more of. Films don't have to be as obnoxious and use as many curse words as this one did, but I for one am sick to death of the same old rewritten over 40 times slop that Hollywood cranks out on 99% of their films. It's as if a movie doesn't just PERFECTLY fit together all neat and tidy and overly PC, the rewriters won't let it pass. That's the best part of this movie, there isn't a hint of political correctness in it!

Billy Bob Thornton should have been nominated and won the best actor Academy Award for this role. Sean Penn certainly did not deserve it. Forget Sling Blade, this is the role BBT was born to play. This movie is flat out hilarious.

5 out of 5 stars

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 09-05-2004, 02:27 PM:

Which version did you watch, Bad or Badder Santa?

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-05-2004, 03:45 PM:

It was the cheezy DVD "Badder Santa" version. Does anyone know just how much of a difference there really is between the two?

Posted by Kelly Skaggs (Member # 1780) on 09-05-2004, 06:37 PM:

From what I remember the only added scene in Badder Santa was the one where BBT was in the valet parking lot walking around looking for a car good enough to steal.