photo credit: LucyAnne81 Billy Bob Thornton & the Boxmasters via photopin (license)

I’ll keep this short as a flick like this needs no silver-tongued lead in. Bad Santa 2 lived up to its first entry. The 2003 lewd cinematic journey brought about a shockingly irreverent interpretation of the most wonderful time of the year. Billy Bob Thornton made reveling in a filthy Yule as an annual necessity. Most of the original cast returned with the obvious loss of both Bernie Mac and John Ritter. They were hilarious additions to an already brilliant comedy. The entertainment world continues to mourn their passing. Another missing element was Lauren Graham who was busy filming a new instillation of Gilmore Girls for Netflix.

Bad Santa 2 does its best to fill those gaps by adding Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks and veteran talent Kathy Bates. Suffice it to say there are a fair amount of sex and no shortage of alcohol. Hendricks can’t help but emanate sex appeal and that was not lost on Billy Bob. By no means can we call their interaction “love interest” but there is a shade of attraction that should please audience members.

All other actresses should hate Kathy Bates for making the job look easy. She slides on screen dressed to the hilt as a sweet old lady just giving back to society. Within five minutes she reveals herself as a vile, tattooed, negligent mother. That’s right she’s old Billy Bob’s mom. Most would suspect the film would follow Willie Soke as he exemplified the term degenerate. Happily, as it turns out, there is equal time spent enjoying Kathy aka Ms. Soke’s perfectly putrid dialogue.

All in all I must advocate that all adults see this movie. We need a good escape into the world of “gee I wish I could say that”. It makes for a good time spent smirking and laughing at the surprising dialogue.

Check it out!!! I rate it 5 Screens!!!

Stay Glued to the Screen

Neil Carroll