Airs: December 20, 8pm & 10pm, December 23, 1pm
Network: Spike
Who Is In It? Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Bernie Mac, John Ritter
Featuring
Hosted By
Notable crew
A refreshingly uncomfortable meeting of humbug and humor, this holiday fare turns those things we’ve come to take as givens in seasonal films and tosses them into the gutter with its slovenly, petty thief Santa, played to filthy perfection by Billy Bob Thornton. The twisted tale of Thornton’s Willie and his sidekick, “elf” Marcus, is enhanced by the hilarious touches provided by Bernie Mac as a greedy security guard, Lauren Graham as Willie’s Santa-fetishist girlfriend, and 11-year-old Brett Kelly as the leechlike kid who throws a wrench in Willie’s miserable existence. The filmmakers’ refusal to tie up the story with a red bow and the film’s guilty-pleasure humor make Bad Santa a new yuletide classic.
