Film / Bad Santa 2

The 2016 sequel to 2003's Bad Santa. Willie is dragged by his mother and Marcus into doing another heist on Christmas, this time on a charity.

Beware of spoilers below, this movie has many spoilers.

Tropes

• Abusive Parents: Willie's mother Sunny is a terrible mother. She got him involved in all sorts of crimes at a young age, even making him take the fall for her when he was eleven. It's no wonder he turned out the way he did.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Marcus uses a garbage chute and an air vent in order to spy on the charity's CEO.
• The Alcoholic: Willie yet again, but also Diane to the point they attend an AA meeting.
• Bad Santa: The entire film's premise is that the main character portrays Santa for most of the film who is forced against his own will to rob an arguably corrupt charity. His mother also portrays a Mrs. Claus who is in on the same charity heist.
• Being Evil Sucks: Willie adamantly does not want to be a safe robber anymore, he'd much rather earn his paychecks through hard honest work.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Marcus and Sunny (Willie's mother), who are forcing Willie to join in on their heist of a charity's cash assets because of his safe-cracking abilities.
• Big "WHAT?!": Willie after Thurman asks him if he's going to pop his cherry now that he's 21.
• Blatant Lies: Marcus tries convincing Willie that there's a charity in Chicago that carries $2 million entirely in cash assets. Willie doubts a charity can gain that much simply through donations. Later in the climax, it turns out he's right, he estimates it's $600 grand at most. Granted, Marcus exaggerated about that amount just to get Willie on board for the heist.
• Character Development: Thurman now calls Willie by his real name and not Santa, viewing him as a surrogate father. Also, his vocabulary is a lot more sophisticated than in the first movie, where he was only a child.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Thurman goes to Willie because he has no one else with whom to spend Christmas. While we're told his grandma died long ago, there's no mention of his dad. Roger should have been out of prison for his white collar crimes only two years after the events of the first film and during his one scene there it was made clear he still cared about his son.
• The Determinator: Thurman's loyalty to Willie knows no bounds. He takes a bus cross-country to Chicago without any plans for food or shelter and with no warm clothes, just to spend Christmas with Willie.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In the very first scene, Willie gets fired from his valet job for ogling a breastfeeding mother and crashing into the valet stand. Doubles as a the Un Reveal, as the audience discovers Willie isn't driving his car, and is not doing as well as it seems he is in the opening few moments.
  • Even so, Willie while pursuing Sunny who stole the cash assets from the charity is distracted by two girls who flash their breasts to him for no apparent reason other than just because they can.
• Driven to Suicide: Willie tries this in the film's first five minutes. First by sticking his head in an oven (before realizing it's electric, not gas), then by hanging himself with a toaster's power cord. This would've failed anyways even if he didn't abort, cause the cord is too weak.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Willie gets a significantly better ending here than in the first movie. He is able to get his crimes expunged as a reward for bringing in Sunny to justice, gets a paying job as a janitor at the charity, and continues his relationship with Diane. Marcus is not arrested this time around, but Willie gets long overdue payback by teabagging him then posting all that on Instagram.
• Embarrassing Ringtone: Marcus' ringtone is "Pop That Pussy" by 2 Live Crew, and it goes off while he's hiding in an air vent recording Regent cheating on Diane.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted hilariously when Willie refuses to rob a charity… because there's no way they have $2 million. They do have some dough, but as Willie accurately predicted, it doesn't add up to even $1 million.
• Family of Choice: This is a major theme explored throughout the movie for both Thurman and Willie. Thurman purposely chooses Willie to be a member of his family, whereas Willie learns to accept Thurman and even Marcus as his true family as opposed to Sunny — who ultimately proves that she doesn’t love Willie one bit. The moments of affection she did show him was all an act to win his trust.
• Fan Disservice:
  • We get a glimpse of Thurman's bare ass as he's changing into a Santa outfit.
  • If that wasn't retch-worthy enough, we are also treated to a picture of Billy Bob Thorton's hairy wrinkly middle-aged ballsack on Marcus' face before the end credits.
  • Ever wanted to see and hear Kathy Bates loudly using a toilet?
• "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Marcus is granted early release from prison due to overcrowding. His diminutive size was probably what made the prison decide he won't pose a threat to society when released.
• Happy Ending Override: The reasonably happy ending of the first film didn't last for Willie, and he ended up becoming just as miserable as before, even attempting suicide.
• Kavorka Man: Willie still has his inexplicable sexual magnetism and he seduces Diana and Gina without even trying.
• Manchild: Thurman hasn't matured a day since the first film, and is just as wide-eyed and innocent as he was ten years ago. His speech and vocabulary did improve, not that he puts this new ability to good use.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Willie accuses another Santa of being one when the two of them are having a turf war. He may not have been wrong.
• Ms. Fanservice: Diane is very well-endowed.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: At the beginning, Willie tries committing suicide by hanging himself with a toaster's wire from the ceiling. He is dissuaded when Thurman dumps an envelope filled with cash, and it came from Marcus. Ironically, Marcus tried shooting him at the end of the first movie.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Willie gives one to an overenthusiastic Santa during the Mistaken for Pedophile scene mentioned above.
• Parental Substitute: Seeing that his real father has abandoned him long ago, Thurman sees Willie as his father. Willie bitterly rejects the idea of them being any sort of family, but he eventually comes to accept it.
• Police Are Useless: The police in the sequel are even dumber than the cops in the first movie. A security guard for the charity inadvertently hands over the keys to the safe to Willie.
• Satiating Sandwich: Just like the first film, Thurman is obsessed with sandwiches, and now works at a sandwich shop (Hungry Hoagie's) which he constantly reminds people of.
• Sex as a Rite-of-Passage: Willie promises to get Thurman laid on his 21st birthday by setting him up with his favorite hooker, Opal. It doesn't go well.
• Shell Game: Sunny after robbing the charity is dressed as a Santa Claus and eludes the police by going into the Santa Con, sending the police into a dizzying game of "Where's Waldo?" Sunny ends up giving away her location by firing her semi-auto Kimber Warrior II at Willie and Thurman.
• Shout-Out:
  • Thurman works at a sandwich shop called "Hungry Hoagie's", a parody of the real-life pizza chain "Hungry Howie's".
  • Willie meets a gamer whose wish list includes Minecraft, Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Project X Zone 2, Assassin's Creed: Chronicles, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and Grand Theft Auto V. (In a dose of irony, the kid makes a reference to a video game whose main character, Lara Croft, was played by Billy Bob Thornton's famous ex Angelina Jolie.)
  • Willie tells Marcus that he looks like “one of those trolls that gang fucked Willy Wonka.”
• Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Thurman claims his grandmother died two years before the movie began.
• Taking the Bullet: Thurman to Willie at the end.
• Villainous Breakdown: Sonny (Willie's mom) when Willie rips open the bag full of cash in the Santa Con, allowing all the other people dressed as Santa to take it. She tries shooting Willie as revenge, but the police stop her.
• Would Hurt a Child: Willie's mom is not only willing to shoot Thurman, she shoots her own child.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Both Marcus and Willie's own mother Sonny try to pull this on Willie. Sonny also pulls this on Marcus, but he survives getting shot and run over.

---