Bad Santa 2

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Tony Cox, & Brett Kelly

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Despite advertising to the contrary, Bad Santa 2 is not bigger, badder, or funnier than the previous film. In fact, this time they went too far and broke the cardinal rule of comedy. The film goes too far to be as raunchy and funny as the first film, that unfortunately it goes from funny to stupid and by the end, it becomes a farce of itself. In the sequel to this classic comedy, Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) is just as broke and drunk as he ever was, and this time he's saddled with a twenty-one year old Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly), who just won't leave him alone. Just when he thinks things can't get any worse, his old pal Marcus (Tony Cox) is released from prison, and has a job that promises to make them all rich. A reluctant Willie agrees, only to find out the place they are going to hit, employs his worst nightmare, his mother. I was hoping this film would be even half as good as the first one and it certainly does have it's moments, especially when Brett Kelly is involved, but overall this movie just isn't that funny. I don't know if it's because they put it all on the table in the first film and the jokes were just all done, or if it tried too hard, but the laughs just didn't come as easily. I mean how many times can Willie curse at a kid on his lap or make short jokes about Marcus? At least it wasn't just the same film with different names and places, but the jokes are similar, the personalities have changed very little, and I really didn't laugh as much as I hoped that I would. Bad Santa 2, wasn't a bad movie, maybe I was just spoiled by the pure genius of the first film, but I really didn't think it was anything more than your ordinary run of the mill comedy. There is nothing extraordinary about this one, sorry folks.