Billy Bob Thorntonas Willie SokeThe story
About Bad Santa 2
More than a decade after the first film, a washed-up, suicidal safecracker is lured back into a Santa suit by his old partner in crime for one more job: robbing a crooked children's charity in a big American city on Christmas Eve. The scheme turns out to have been set up by his estranged, hard-drinking mother, and the sweet-natured young man who once idolised him turns up to complicate things. Double-crosses pile up among a crew that trusts no one.
The CineClaus verdict
More than a decade on, Thornton puts the suit back on and the film mostly repeats the first one, only louder.
The crudeness is all still there. What went missing is the bite: the original let its misery curdle into something oddly tender, while this one reaches for sentiment and lands somewhere flat. Kathy Bates has a fine time as a mother even worse than her son, and Tony Cox still gets the sharpest lines.
Worth a look only if you already love the first film and will forgive a weaker encore. Everyone else can simply rewatch the original.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: adults only in our book: strong language, frequent sex references, violence and a suicide attempt played for dark laughs, and while its BBFC certificate is still being confirmed, we would not put it on for anyone under their late teens.
BBFC advice: Strong language, sex references, sex.
Content advice & accessibility
- Where the advice comes from
- The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official 15 certificate, and never looser than it.
