Bad Santa

Bad Santa centres on Willie, a foul-mouthed, hard-drinking safecracker who takes a seasonal job as a department store Santa so that he and his partner Marcus, who poses as his elf, can rob the store on Christmas Eve. Working the same scam year after year in different cities, the pair arrive at a new mall where a suspicious store detective, a security chief and a bartender with a fondness for Santa complicate their plans. A lonely eight-year-old boy who refuses to stop believing that Willie is the real Santa becomes attached to him and gives the crook somewhere to stay.

The film was directed by Terry Zwigoff, following Ghost World (2001) and preceding Art School Confidential (2006). Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Billy Bob Thornton as Willie, Tony Cox as Marcus, Lauren Graham as Sue, Brett Kelly as the boy, Lauren Tom as Lois and John Ritter as Bob Chipeska.

Released in November 2003, Bad Santa runs 92 minutes and was made for about 23 million dollars, earning roughly 77 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7/10 from around 167,000 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 6.6/10 from about 2,460 votes. A film critics' rating stands at 6.9/10 from 216 reviews.