Bad Santa, good movie

In this movie, Billy Bob Thornton plays a guy who, with his dwarf buddy, put on a Santa gig at different malls across the country, ripping them off after closing when the time is right and running to another state. The two of them then split up every year, and Thornton's character is more and more pathetic every time, all the way up to the heist for which this movie takes place.

Thornton drinks so much he can barely get to the Santa chair--when he opens his car door, an ocean of beer bottles comes pouring out. That doesn't stop him, of course. Using a black dwarf gives them a lot of leverage when it comes to getting fired...you know, political correctness and all that. Thornton's character is so depressed, careless, and perverted that it totally makes this worth watching. Hilarious all the way through, with his insane antics.

It only gets worse when he shacks up with a kid who's living with his grandmother, who isn't all there mentally. His parents are who-knows-where (he says his dad's off exploring mountains). This kid has no sense of...anything. He doesn't respond to Thornton's insults, or his screaming fits of anger. He just takes it in stride and keeps asking questions, and offering sandwiches. But these two, it turns out, have a lot to learn from each other.

Another treat is the interplay between the characters played by John Ritter and Bernie Mac. Ritter is the mall manager, and Mac is the head of security. While Ritter is a prude who has to spell out s-h-i-t instead of saying it, even in private, Mac sits there casually stirring his Metamucil and talks freely about sex and everything else, profanity included. The great thing about this is that Ritter believes that Mac is someone he can confide in, and thinks they actually agree on matters.

I don't think anyone in this movie is normal. All the characters are completely psycho. Keep an eye out for the Indian guy from Office Space and for the guy who played Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager. Both of them make brief appearances.