Review – Bad Santa 2
Bad Santa 2 continues Hollywood’s idiotic trend of making sequels to great 2000’s comedies. They got lucky with Anchorman 2 (2013), but have since missed at every single attempt after than, most notably with this year’s horrendous Zoolander 2. Now, Bad Santa 2 isn’t the debacle that Zoolander 2 is. It is just an unnecessary sequel with sporadic laughs and a predictable plot.
Bad Santa 2 brings back to the boozing, cursing, sex-crazed Willie (Billy Bob Thornton). When Willie is at his absolute lowest point in life and on the verge of suicide, he gets a call from his old partner, Marcus (Tony Cox), about a job in Chicago. The two get there to find out that they will robbing a charity and that the job was set up by Willie’s mother (Kathy Bates). Now, this dysfunctional group must stay focused and work together to get the job done.
I can’t think of anyone who plays a better angry drunk better than Thornton. The man is a walking bottle of whiskey and picks up right where he left off in 2003. He’s as rude, crude, vulgar, and hilarious. Who’s even better is Kathy Bates, who absolutely kills it as his mother, who is essentially an older, female version of Willie. It’s nice to see such a prestige actress like Bates to do something like this and having fun. Cox brings the one-liners like a pro, and he and Thornton have great banter back and forth with insults. There are a number of midget jokes that are easily the best part of the whole movie.
The biggest problem with the movie is how unoriginal and forced it is. We loved the original because we had never seen anything like it. We had never seen a boozing, smoking thief who dresses up as a mall Santa and has an affinity for plus-sized women. We loved watching him insult kids and have sex in store fitting rooms, as weird as that sounds. With this sequel, they took everything that was great and fun about Willie and really tried to force the same gags. It was really the same ‘ol schtick all over again, which had a few moments that stuck, but overall felt recycled and unoriginal. Of course Willie is going to have sex with the plus-size security guard, and of course he is going to be hammered and rude to the kids who sit on his lap, but that can only be funny so many times. There is nothing new here, and that is why the movie is an ultimate miss.
The plot of the movie is pointless. I almost forewent typing it because it really doesn’t matter. It is just a platform to watching Willie do his whacky shenanigans and to watch Kathy Bates show her bad side.
Bad Santa is one of my favorite Christmas movies of all-time and I watch it every year around the holidays. I will not be doing the same for Bad Santa 2. This is an unnecessary, occasionally funny movie that is saved by Thornton and Bates insane performances.
MY RATING – 2/4
Did you see Bad Santa 2? What did you think? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.