I'm not a Christmas/Holiday person but there are a few Christmas movies I watch over and over again one of those being Bad Santa. I love it and you know why? Because it's not about the Christmas magic and all that, but it's a hilarious, more cynical and realistic approach to Christmas. I was hoping Bad Santa 2 would be the same but unfortunately it was more a bad remake than it was a (decent) sequel.
13 years after the events of Bad Santa, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is down on his luck and he's pulled back for another heist by his former partner Marcus (Tony Cox) and his mother (Kathy Bates) and he still has to deal with Thurman (Brett Kelly), who is now an adult but still acts like a child.
It's basically the same plot of the original, only this time they are robbing a charity group who is trying to raise money for kids. There's a new element, the figure of Willie's mother that is supposed to give Santa a backstory and explain why he is the way he is but it's ridiculous and it just doesn't work.
Also not working are the characters and some of the casting. Willie was a one-dimensional and stereotyped character but he was kinda likeable, funny and most of all Billy Bob Thornton made the character believable. There's nothing believable about 2016 Willie. He is just a drunk that comes off as an annoying guy.
Another problem with this was Thurman. He doesn't fit into the story. He's there but he doesn't add absolutely anything. And then there's Willie's mother. Other than being terribly cast (Kathy Bates is only 7 years older than Thornton), the abusive, white-trash mother is boring and all she does is cursing. There's also Christina Hendricks who plays a married woman who likes to fuck Santa. The character was so forgettable, I don't even remember her name.
At last but not least there's the humour. It's still the vulgar and dark humour of the first film, but it doesn't always work. The fact is that when you make the same joke or gag, again and again, it stops being funny and that's exactly what eventually happens in Bad Santa 2. Recycled humour that barely made me chuckle.
It's basically the same plot of the original, only this time they are robbing a charity group who is trying to raise money for kids. There's a new element, the figure of Willie's mother that is supposed to give Santa a backstory and explain why he is the way he is but it's ridiculous and it just doesn't work.
Also not working are the characters and some of the casting. Willie was a one-dimensional and stereotyped character but he was kinda likeable, funny and most of all Billy Bob Thornton made the character believable. There's nothing believable about 2016 Willie. He is just a drunk that comes off as an annoying guy.
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| Broad Green Pictures, Miramax |
At last but not least there's the humour. It's still the vulgar and dark humour of the first film, but it doesn't always work. The fact is that when you make the same joke or gag, again and again, it stops being funny and that's exactly what eventually happens in Bad Santa 2. Recycled humour that barely made me chuckle.
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