Their Holiday Favorites: Agnes Varnum, Her Mom and 'Bad Santa'

Welcome to Their Holiday Favorites, a series in which members of the Austin film community tell us about movies they enjoy watching during the holiday season. We're starting with Agnes Varnum, the Director of Marketing for Austin Film Society. Here's her description of a family holiday favorite:

My mom is a sucker for Joel and Ethan Coen. Raising Arizona was her favorite movie until O Brother, Where Art Thou? came out. Besides Elf and Miracle on 34th Street, our holiday greatest hit is the Coen-produced Bad Santa.

The grungy, foul Santa played by Billy Bob Thornton is exactly the kind of sardonic character that folks without a sense of humor love to hate, but if you ever feel like commercialism and sentimentality have overtaken the holiday, Bad Santa is the cure.

One negative review on Rotten Tomatoes calls it "belligerently crass and profane." I can't argue with that, it's what we love about it.

John Ritter as an overly polite department store manager strolls through the ladies' plus-size department to find Santa's feet and dropped drawers seen under a dressing room door with a howling, (presumably) large lady. As they pump away, Santa shouts, "You ain't gonna shit right for a week!" offending Ritter's wholesome Christmas sensibilities, while me and my mom crack up and look away even though we've seen it over and over.

Not your typical holiday fare, and not for the faint of heart or easily offended but don't worry, he gets his comeuppance in the end.

Want to watch? Vulcan, Encore and I Luv Video all have Bad Santa (or unrated version Badder Santa) available for rental. In addition, you can see the movie at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz at 11 pm on Friday and Saturday, December 16 and 17, or at Alamo Lake Creek at 10 pm on Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 21 and 22.