If Christmas brings out the "bah, humbug" in you, then this pitch-black comedy from indie film-maker Terry Zwigoff (Crumb, Ghost World) will be right up your alley. Flouting the sentimental spirit of the season and then some, it stars Billy Bob Thornton as Willie T Stokes, a grouchy, alcoholic safe-cracker who works as a department store Santa so he can rob his employers with the help of his "elf" sidekick (Tony Cox). On one last job, the foul-mouthed, determinedly child-unfriendly Stokes becomes involved with a Santa-loving barmaid (Lauren Graham) and a lonely, bullied, overweight boy (Brett Kelly) who is apparently immune to the river of profanity coming out of Stokes's mouth. Sounds like a recipe for a feel-good ending, but Zwigoff resists that temptation, and with Thornton giving a terrific deadpan performance, this is the perfect antidote to the usual saccharine Christmas confection.

You'd better watch out - Santa Claus Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Wille's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.