If you like your Christmas icons boozed up, oversexed, and prone to drop an f-bomb every other word, Bad Santa just may be the film for you. A Wonderful Life this ain't!

       Billy Bob Thornton and his diminutive sidekick, Tony Cox, are criminals perpetrating the perfect yuletide crime by posing as Santa and his elf at unsuspecting shopping malls and robbing the place on Christmas Eve. It is a scam that has supported the pair for years, but this time there's a hitch in their plans – this time, their intended victim is on to them. As if that weren't bad enough, a pathetically lonely young lad, who really believes he is Santa, is hounding Thornton.

       Bad Santa might be compared to A Christmas Carol on crack. The humor is of the dark, sick, and twisted variety and likely to offend most audiences. You have to have a pretty thick skin to appreciate Thornton's character, a drunken cynic prone to swearing at children, fornicating with fat women in store dressing rooms, and peeing himself. This guy makes Ebenezer Scrooge look downright congenial. Bad Santa has moments of inspired humor but, for the most part, the gags seem to rely more on shock value than comedic effect and the film pushes the envelope of propriety relentlessly. Bad Santa goes for the smut jugular with such ferocity that the endless stream of vulgarities and politically incorrect references nearly becomes unbearable. Having said that, Bad Santa is also uproariously funny at times and a witty indictment of a holiday best known these days for its crass commercialism rather than its spiritual traditionalism.

       Thornton is the perfect casting choice for Willie. His grizzled look and deadpan delivery perfectly convey a world-weary disdain for all things sentimental. I recently heard a rumor that Thornton spent much of his time on the film method acting, consuming large amounts of alcohol before arriving on set. Whether that's true or not I can't confirm but Thornton is certainly convincing. Cox delivers a fine comedic performance as the levelheaded half of this unusual partnership, Marcus, his frustration building as he desperately tries to keep Willie's self-destructive behavior from blowing their scheme wide open. Bernie Mac is the mall security supervisor who throws a wrench into the plan, while John Ritter makes a scene-stealing appearance as the mall director, Bob Chipeska. Ritter's somewhat subdued but absolutely hilarious performance is a solid reminder of the reasons he will be missed. Gilmore Girl Lauren Graham is Willie's love interest, a bartender with a Santa fetish.

       Bad Santa is available in rated and unrated versions in 1.85:1 widescreen & 5.1 Dolby Digital. Bonus features on the unrated version includes several minutes of deleted and alternate scenes cut from the theatrical version to achieve its R rating; a making-of featurette featuring some behind the scenes clips and interviews with cast and crew; outtakes; and a largely boring gag reel.

       Bad Santa is probably destined to become a holiday cult classic, a caustic antidote to the usual Christmas fare. This acid-tongued, sickly satirical skewering of everything we hold dear is certainly not for everyone, but those who are willing to take a chance will find a measured sweetness under its calloused surface and a fair dose of humor to soften its black heart.