History Film / BadSanta

* StraightMan: Marcus spends most of his time doing damage control for Willie and giving him a TheReasonYouSuck speech now and then. That is, [[spoiler:before he betrays him]].

* MoralityPet: The kid serves as this for Willie. Curiously enough, Zwigof removed most of the scenes with he and Willie in the Director's Cut, making it ''shorter'' than the theatrical release. The ending is still one massive PetTheDog sequence for Willie.

Willie Stokes (BillyBobThornton) is a drunk {{Jerkass}} safe cracker who along with his midget accomplice Marcus has a yearly routine of getting jobs as a MallSanta and Elf respectively during the holidays and robbing the mall's safe on Christmas Eve after closing time. During one such stint, Wille meets a kid (who is mostly referred to in the movie as "The Kid") who inadvertently saves him from being raped. After a run in with the mall's unscrupulous security chief (BernieMac) posing as a police officer, Willie, his girlfriend Sue and Marcus move in with The Kid, who lives alone with his senile grandmother ([[ParentalAbandonment his mother is dead and his dad is in jail for embezzlement]]). Willie starts to warm up to the Kid and starts acting as a surrogate father...of sorts.

* [[spoiler: DeconReconSwitch: At the beginning of the film, its feel is ''very'' cynical (what with dealing with [[DepravedKidsShowHost Mall Santas]] and all), but by the end, while keeping the salty language, the movie's more like "Hey, it's Christmas after all".]]

* [[spoiler: DeconReconSwitch: at the beginning, the movie's feel is ''very'' cynical (what with dealing with [[DepravedKidsShowHost Mall Santas]] and all), but by the end, while keeping the salty language, the movie's more like "hey, it's Christmas after all".]]

Willie Stokes (BillyBobThornton) is a drunk {{Jerkass}} safe cracker who along with his midget accomplice Marcus has a yearly routine of getting jobs as a MallSanta and Elf respectively during the holidays and robbing the mall's safe on Christmas Eve after closing time. During one such stint, Wille meets a kid (who is mostly referred to in the movie as "The Kid") who inadvertently saves him from being beaten up. After a run in with the mall's unscrupulous security chief (BernieMac) posing as a police officer, Willie, his girlfriend Sue and Marcus move in with The Kid, who lives alone with his senile grandmother ([[ParentalAbandonment his mother is dead and his dad is in jail for embezzlement]]). Willie starts to warm up to the Kid and starts acting as a surrogate father...of sorts.

* SatiatingSandwiches: "What is it with you and fixing fucking sandwiches?!"

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Willie may be a bastard but hurting children is low, even for him.
* EverythingsSatiatingWithSandwiches: "What is it with you and fixing fucking sandwiches?!"

* RefugeInAudacity: Just...this movie.

* Determinator: [[spoiler: After fleeing from the police, he reaches the kid's house in order to give him his present. Even after being shot eight times, he still tries to crawl to the door with the toy elephant.]]

([[spoiler: When Marcus and Lois kill Gin at the end by smashing him between two cars, they seemingly impale him right in the crotch, but it's off camera so it's hard to tell.]]

* GroinAttack: When teaching the kid how to fight, the kid ends up kicking Marcus right in the crotch. This causes Marcus to retaliate against the kid in the same fashion. When Willie raises protest about punching a child in the crotch, Marcus yells "fuck you Willie!", and punches Willie in the balls. The scene ends with all three lying on the ground groaning in pain (and trying to kick each other in the balls).

* NotSoHarmless: [[spoiler:Marcus makes this clear when he murders Gin Slagel.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Once the safe was cracked and he got everything he wanted out of the mall, Marcus decides it's time to off Willie since he's no longer reliable.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Thurman as evidenced by the well-deserved [[GroinAttack]] he inflicts on a bully.

* VillainProtagonist

* MoralityPet: The kid serves as this for Willie. Curiously enough, Zwigof removed most of them in the Director's Cut, making it ''shorter'' than the theatrical release. The ending is still one massive PetTheDog sequence for Willie.