Film review: Bad Santa 2 feels old and tired compared with the daringly shocking original

Billy Bob Thornton seems surprisingly disengaged as he squeezes back into his stained Santa suit.

From left, Tony Cox, Kathy Bates and Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa 2. Jan Thijs / Broad Green Pictures / Miramax

Bad Santa 2

Director: Mark Waters

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

Two Stars

Hollywood can add yet another film to the list of sequels that should never have been made, in this case a limp reprisal by Billy Bob Thornton of his misbehaving Santa Claus.

The 2003 original was directed by Ghost World's Terry Zwigoff and co-scripted by the Coen Brothers. With none of these talents returning, the belated ­follow-up boasts none of its predecessor's heart lying underneath a brash exterior – just a series of mean-spirited jokes that trade in shock value.

Once again, Thornton plays sleazy low-life Willie Soke, whose life is at such a low ebb when we rejoin him that he contemplates ending it all.

Paid a visit by his old ­partner-in-crime Marcus (Tony Cox), Willie is persuaded to head for Chicago, where his equally foul mother, Sunny (Kathy Bates), is scheming to rob a homeless charity.

In the midst of this perfunctory heist plot, and its accompanying double-crosses, Thornton seems surprisingly disengaged as he squeezes back into his stained Santa suit. While the original film felt daringly shocking, this one just feels tired and old – rather like its protagonist.

A tattooed Bates is good value as the world’s worst white-trash mum, but she is rather wasted in a script that does little but try to outdo each insult with the next.

While in this age of sometimes overbearing political correctness there is something to be said for characters that simply let rip but Bad Santa 2, directed by Mark Waters who made the far superior Mean Girls, has little to keep you interested.

The film particularly ­struggles to find a place for Thurman (Brett Kelly), the ­gormless kid from the original who helped ignite a spark of humanity in Willie. He returns, grown up and working in a sandwich store, but his presence adds little.

Better is Mad Men star Christina Hendricks, who at least has a blast with her role as a charity organiser and recovering alcoholic who lets out her bad-girl side when she meets Willie.

For the most part, though, this feels like a pale imitation of the first film – a huge, gift-wrapped festive parcel that turns out to contain only an empty box.