Bad Santa’ has been described variously as ‘The nastiest Christmas film ever’, ‘The ultimate anti-Christmas film’ or ‘One of the best Christmas films ever’. In truth, it’s much more than any of those descriptions. It’s quite simply a great film, brilliantly scripted, and with assured direction from Terry Zwigoff, following on from 2001’s excellent ‘Ghost World’. With some exceptional performances, it’s also very, very funny.

The only person Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) hates more than anyone else is himself. Consumed with self loathing and drinking himself into oblivion, Willies’ life and everyone in it are one endless series of disappointments. Unscrupulous and immoral, Willie is a bad person and he knows it. One thing he is good at though is cracking safes.

Every Christmas with the help of his diminutive partner in crime, Marcus (Tony Cox) he finds work as a department store Santa Claus. With Marcus as his elf assistant, their sole intention is to rob the store on Christmas Eve. With Willie permanently drunk, abusive to the kids and having sex in the changing rooms, Marcus cannot avert the suspicions of store detective Gin Slagel (Bernie Mac). Slagel quickly brings his concerns to the attention of the mall manager Bob Chipeska (John Ritter), in his last film appearance.

Meanwhile Willie is enjoying a passionate affair with Sue (Lauren Graham), a barmaid with a Santa Claus fetish. Things are further complicated by the unwelcome attention of a young boy, Thurman Merman, who believes the foul mouthed Willie to be the real Santa. Willie finally finds a purpose to his life, teaching Thurman to stand up to bullying after the youngster inadvertently saves him from suicide.

With the clock ticking, will the Yuletide criminals be apprehended before they can complete their audacious robbery and will Willie find redemption in a childs innocence?

Rude, crude and with the blackest of humour, ‘Bad Santa’ with a total of 300 profanities, may not be to everyones taste but it manages to be both hilarious and moving without once slipping into sentimentality.

Both Jack Nicholson and Bill Murray showed interest in the title role but were already committed to other projects. It’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Billy Bob Thornton as ‘Bad Santa’ though and he gives a career best performance, ironically losing out on a Golden Globe award to Murray for ‘Lost in Translation’.

This is one Christmas film that can be enjoyed at any time of the year.