Bad Santa 2: “Who wanted this?”

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(l-r) Billy Bob Thornton stars as Willie Soke and Brett Kelly as Thurman Merman in BAD SANTA 2, a Broad Green Pictures release.
Credit: Jan Thijs / Broad Green Pictures

Who wanted this? Did you? Did Billy Bob Thornton? Did anybody in the world? I sure didn’t, and I highly doubt anybody else wanted it either.

So why does this exist? Why on earth is there a “BAD SANTA 2”?!

For those of you not familiar with the “series,” “Bad Santa” is a film from 2003 about a desolate drunk called Willie who poses as a shopping mall Santa in order to rob the stores on Christmas Eve. However, the plan changes when Willie befriends a young boy, beaming with innocence, who is somehow able to bring out what little kindness he can manage. The film wasn’t anything special, but it was quite a novel premise and managed to get a few laughs out of people at the time.

Clearly, nobody wanted a sequel. The movie had a very conclusive ending, box office returns were moderate at best, and even the most generous websites gave it the critical equivalent of a C+. So, why does one exist 13 years later?

Perhaps, you might say, the studio came up with a really good story to go along with it? NOPE. The premise of this movie is similar to that of “Ghostbusters 2.” Several years after the events of the first film everything is back to Square One. Willie engages in another heist extremely similar to the one in the first movie, and is even lured back to the good side by the same kid. Every joke that is not blatantly recycled from the first movies appears to be a contest to create the most disgusting imagery possible. I guess the logic here is “If we do something really gross, somebody will have to find it funny.”

This movie is merely the latest in a recent trend of 10-20 year later comedy sequels which have been plaguing the theaters recently. Films such as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” “Zoolander 2,” “Bridget Jones’ Baby,” and “Dumb and Dumber To,” each one worse than the last. Why is this a thing? What exactly is the world’s obsession with seeing the same movie with the same jokes, but with older and more washed-out actors?

My theory is that it has something to do with a form of morbid curiosity. Such as a small thought in the back of your head asking “What exactly is Bill Murray’s character from ‘Groundhog Day’ doing at this very moment?” Of course, were this question brought into your consciousness, you would likely dismiss such an idea as inane.

So instead it remains in the subconscious, feasting off of your memories and tinting your eyes rose-colored, until eventually we find ourselves with a Wayne’s World cinematic universe and not one person can figure out why.

Either that, or the easy answer of reliable money with little effort.

Overall score 1/5.

Advocate Staff