Bad Santa 2, released some thirteen years after its predecessor, feels like a thirty-one year old who showed up at his high school prom, only to realize that the music has long ago faded. The protagonist, Willie Soke (Billy Bob Thornton), is back as the boozing, profane and angry thief who doubles as a charity Santa Claus with his little sidekick, Marcus (Tony Cox), and he's more obnoxious and disgusting than ever. We are privy to watching Willy smack his mother (Kathy Bates) across the face, beat up another Santa nearly to death (for no apparent reason) in public, and even curse at the children on his lap as they tell him what they want for Christmas. There is no big, positive change in Willie, at least nothing that resembles an ounce of humanity he displayed at the end of the original movie. Whereas John Ritter and Bernie Mac added genuine giggles when they squared up against Stokes last time around, this sequel delivers an uninspired laughs (if they can even be called that), return of Thurman Murman (couldn't the writers have created a different character to use in order to humanize Willy this time around?), and pretty much the same storyline, including the same betrayal and same gun-point standoff at the end. Bad Santa 2 would lead you to believe that a piece-of-shit human being such as Stokes can fuck - and even get a hand-job from - any woman he wants anytime he wants - and in public, no less. (The montage of testicle shots during the end credits is exhaustingly repetitive and unfunny as well). The Bad Santa we liked in 2003 has by now gotten worse, much worse, and his once-upon-a-time degenerate charm has become intolerable.
D-
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