Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, John Ritter and Bernie Mac star in this 2003 comedy. Thornton (Armageddon) plays Willie, a depressed, sarcastic, alcoholic thief who works as Santa Claus for department stores he robs every Christmas Eve. Cox (Me, Myself & Irene) plays his partner, Marcus who works as his Elf. Soon, an odd kid (Kelly) comes into Willie's life and changes him. Graham (Gilmore Girls, Evan Almighty) plays Sue, a bartender who falls for Willie, the late, Ritter (Problem Child) plays department store boss, Bob and the late, Mac (Ocean's Eleven) plays Gin, the store's head of security who becomes on to Willie & Marcus. This is a good holiday comedy with hilarious and a bit of touching moments. Thornton & Cox are great together and steal the film. I recommend this, but caution that there's a lot of profanity.

Bad Santa (2003): Dir: Terry Zwigoff / Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Graham, Bernie Mac: Unbelievably vulgar Christmas comedy about deceit or the wolf in sheep clothing. In this case it is the con artist dressed as Santa who appears with his trusty dwarf dressed as an elf to spread Christmas cheer before robbing the store. Billy Bob Thornton is hilarious as a bitter alcoholic who hates the holidays, which results in numerous amusing drunken outbursts in front of children. Tony Cox plays his midget partner fed up with Thornton's drunkenness, and practically runs an obstacle course just to defuse the alarms. Brett Kelly plays a naïve kid whom Thornton shacks up with when police search his hotel room. Kelly lives with his senile grandmother while his father serves time in prison for tax fraud. Bernie Mac steals scenes as a corrupt security officer. Lauren Graham plays a bar waitress who has a Santa fetish. John Ritter is featured in his final role as a squeamish mall manager. Superb setup that becomes a well written screenplay that may strike a note of truth to some. Director Terry Zwigoff who made Ghost World, takes a chance in a daring conclusion that works all the better because it doesn't play to the typical happy ending with a give and take. Not for families but it does stress the need to turn the bad into good. Score: 9 / 10

Bad Santa (2003) Reviewed by Martin Davis, Retrospect Film on Facebook 'Bad Santa' has been described variously as 'The nastiest Christmas film ever', 'The ultimate anti-Christmas film' or 'One of the best Christmas films ever'. In truth, it's much more than any of those descriptions. It's quite simply a great film, brilliantly scripted, and with assured direction from Terry Zwigoff, following on from 2001's excellent 'Ghost World'. With some exceptional performances, it's also very, very funny. The only person Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) hates more than anyone else is himself. Consumed with self loathing and drinking himself into oblivion, Willies' life and everyone in it are one endless series of disappointments. Unscrupulous and immoral, Willie is a bad person and he knows it. One thing he is good at though is cracking safes. Every Christmas with the help of his diminutive partner in crime, Marcus (Tony Cox) he finds work as a department store Santa Claus. With Marcus as his elf assistant, their sole intention is to rob the store on Christmas Eve. With Willie permanently drunk, abusive to the kids and having sex in the changing rooms, despite his best efforts, Marcus cannot avert the suspicions of store detective Gin Slagel (Bernie Mac). Slagel quickly brings his concerns to the attention of the mall manager Bob Chipeska (John Ritter), in his last film appearance. Meanwhile Willie is enjoying a passionate affair with Sue (Lauren Graham), a barmaid with a Santa Claus fetish. Things are further complicated by the unwelcome attention of a young boy, Thurman Merman, who believes the foul mouthed Willie to be the real Santa. Willie finally finds a purpose to his life, teaching Thurman to stand up to bullying after the youngster inadvertently saves him from suicide. With the clock ticking, will the Yuletide criminals be apprehended before they can complete their audacious robbery and will Willie find redemption in a childs innocence? Rude, crude and with the blackest of humour, 'Bad Santa' with a total of 300 profanities, may not be to everyones taste but it manages to be both hilarious and moving without once slipping into sentimentality. Both Jack Nicholson and Bill Murray showed interest in the title role but were already committed to other projects. It's difficult to imagine anyone other than Billy Bob Thornton as 'Bad Santa' though and he gives a career best performance, ironically losing out on a Golden Globe award to Murray for 'Lost in Translation'. This is one Christmas film that can be enjoyed at any time of the year. Excellent. Martin Davis, Retrospect Film on Facebook

Bad Santa is not a movie for everyone which is what makes the film a great Christmas classic. Bad Santa started as a concept by its executive producers Joel and Ethan Coen, who turned their idea over to John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the screenwriters of the edgy kids' movie Cats & Dogs.Started off as a career criminal Willie T. Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) has found himself the perfect profession. As one may put it, he just has to work three weeks every year to keep himself in all the booze, cigarettes he needs for the other 49 weeks of the year. Willie is a mall Santa whose partner in all things criminal is dwarf named Marcus (Tony Cox). Marcus has three important jobs: He plays Santa's elf and keeps Willie just sober enough to snarl at the kids who come to the malls' North Pole castles.Others may find it stale, while the reviews have been overwhelming great and the film is just popular today, even more so than when it was released back in 2003, now after watching it on Christmas day 2015. The greater of Bad Santa is that it's unrelentingly and unapologetically delightful.