Totally Hilarious Art Film

Bad Santa has gotten exactly the reviews I had expected. Folks are not on the fence about this one and apparently you either get it or you don’t. I walked out of this blown away with a HUGE smile on my face. For what is actually a bitingly intelligent Art film, Bad Santa provides some of the most laugh-out-loud-until-your-stomach-hurts entertainment that has come along in a long, long time. What a concept!

Terry Zwigoff is one of the best filmmakers working today. I loved Crumb and Ghost World. In the final analysis, Bad Santa, for all of its over-the-top stuff, actually fits nicely into Zwigoff’s universe. The word that comes to mind is integrity. I think that is something lacking in a lot of modern mass-market ART – particularly film - and Zwigoff, for one, seems to be immune to the compromise and dumbing-down that quickly ruins a lot of other product. Bad Santa has more artistic integrity than the rest of the multiplex put together. Considering the sorry, nasty, reactionary state of most popular culture in this country, it really is exciting to see that a lot of other people realized this and have embraced this film. (Or maybe they just thought it was F#ing hilarious, what do I know?) You can take a look at some of the silly tisk, tisk “this is immoral toilet humor” reviews to realize that this was a somewhat thorny package to embrace.

This is the best script (from the team behind Cats and Dogs???) since The Good Girl and the funniest comedy script since Meet the Parents – although not really a fair comparison. Once again, it just bristles with intelligence and for a pleasant change is simply balls out in dealing with some very heavy stuff – and just happens to be hilarious while doing it. Our title character is an unrepentant, criminal, bona-fide alcoholic, “serial fornicator”, suicidal a-hole. The portrayal of this character is totally honest and does not let up for one second. Watching it unfold is just great, great fun. Juxtaposing this relentless personal mayhem with the whole USA Christmas nonsense is simply brilliant. Zwigoff really does a lot to pull this off including some hilariously appropriate music choices. And there is dialog here that just zings! One exchange (partially evident in the ads) between the surprisingly excellent Bernie Mac and the always excellent Tony Cox is literally worth the admission price. I can’t remember the last time I laughed this hard in public.

The performances are first-to-last fan-f#ing-tastic. Billy Bob always shows up to work and does his job well, but this is by far one of the best acting performances – not comedy acting – in recent memory. I could go on, but I won’t. With any justice, this would be the Academy award right here – no real contest with anything else I’ve seen this year. As mentioned, Tony Cox was wonderful, Bernie Mac was superb, and even Lauren Graham does a great job with her minor barmaid character. The sublime nastiness of our little “Gilmore Girl” getting repeatedly banged hard by Billy Bob while screaming “F# me Santa!” at the top of her lungs almost makes up for the true obscenity of Fox and Friends. (yeah, I know it was on WB, same thing). I was disappointed to see someone say that it was a shame this was John Ritter’s last film. I felt the exact opposite. It's at least nice that he could go out on such a high note in such a great film. His subtly expressive face and perfect comedy timing really added a lot to Bad Santa and he obviously had a ball. Although its all too brief, this was probably the best performance of his career in this kind of character role and it’s a real shame to think of the future great performances that we’ve lost. Finally, child actor Brett Kelly was outstanding and his terrific performance was in many ways the glue that held this potentially explosive mixture together. I'm not even sure how he kept a straight face.

Terry Zwigoff has hit another one out of the park. I'm so glad that this film has gotten the kudos it deserved. This must also be his most financially successful film to date and very good for him. This is the first time in awhile that I've left the theater looking forward to the DVD release. Bad Santa is a great film and really great entertainment. I can only hope that Terry takes on the Easter Bunny next!