Movie review: ‘Bad Santa 2' a Christmas miracle

It's true what one character says in "Bad Santa 2" — the best gift is always a surprise. So it's with great unexpected joy I report that the sequel to the 2003 hit comedy is nothing short of a Christmas miracle. Meaning it's not a total dog.

I had zero faith this second entry would hold a candle to the lewd, crude and bittersweet original. This time out, Mark Waters ("Mean Girls") replaces director Terry Zwigoff. There's also a new team of writers in Johnny Rosenthal, Doug Ellin and Shauna Cross. The good news is that the core cast is back, led by Billy Bob Thornton again donning the Santa suit as the drunken, safe-cracking sociopathic Willie Soke. He still hates kids and loves cheap whiskey and a certain sex act with women. Saint Nick, he isn't. Tony Cox returns as Willie's dwarf accomplice, Marcus. And an all-grown-up Brett Kelly reprises his role as the curly blonde-haired Thurman Merman. His cherubic face hasn't changed a bit. Willie gets him a "cherry popper" for his 21st birthday. That would be Willie's hooker pal, Opal, played again by Octavia Spencer.

The movie opens with Willie down and out and still puking in back alleys. On the underside of rock bottom, he decides — yet again — to kill himself. He writes a suicide note on a pizza box and puts his head in a hot oven. Like the many attempts before, he fails.

The script quickly summarizes the events from the first film and moves the action from Arizona to Chicago, where the gang plots to rob the Giving City, a charity that feeds and houses children. Willie and Marcus do their Santa and Elf gig, but there's a Mrs. Claus, too. And she's played with filthy butch bravado by a salty tongued Kathy Bates. To say more about how her character fits into the story would ruin the ride. Let's just say she amps up the naughtiness. Christina Hendricks is the gorgeous head of the charity they plan to relieve of $2 million.

Though there are many LOL moments, "Bad Santa 2" offers nothing different from the original. It's a copycat with fresh faces, but the material is as stale as a Christmas fruit cake.

— Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@ledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.

"Bad Santa 2"

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Christina Hendricks, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly.

(R for crude sexual content and language throughout, and some graphic nudity.)

Grade: B-