As chaotic, cantankerous 2016 prepares to slope off the stage, one would be forgiven for wanting a wholesome Yuletide treat to warm our hearts and reset the world’s moral compass. Instead, we get Bad Santa 2, in which Billy Bob Thornton’s jaundiced St Nick gulps whisky from his flask and proceeds to mount Christina Hendricks in the alley by the dumpster. This probably makes it the Christmas film we deserve, a fitting finale for the year as a whole, although is it too much to wish that the gags had been sharper and the plot (something about a scheme to rob a Chicago-based charity) just that little bit more developed? Released in 2003, Terry Zwigoff’s original had a dirty, disreputable charm. The sequel, by contrast, blows in like some unloved, drunken uncle arrived late to the party. It’s a font of tired jokes and off-colour routines; aggressive one minute, maudlin the next. Steer this one gently into a darkened room.
