10 Movies That Were Never Meant To Be Good

It took thirteen years for this sequel to reach the screen and you have to wonder why they bothered because it’s just more of the same with Willie (Billy Bob Thornton) and Marcus (Tony Cox) planning another robbery on Christmas Eve.

This time, they’re joined by Kathy Bates as Willie’s mom but if you think having two Oscar winners in the lead is going to elevate the proceedings, guess again. Bates’ character has one of those only-in-the-movies illnesses that’s never specified but you know it must be serious because she coughs a great deal. That’s right – it’s one of those movies.

While the 2003 original made some pointed digs at the enforced goodwill of the festive season and gave the audience some engagingly colourful characters, this sequel functions on the level of a bad TV movie – bland, formulaic and predictable, it just shows how much better the first film was.

Incidentally, you can’t blame the writers of the original because it’s a different creative team this time around, fuelling the suspicion that this was a hackjob. Director Mark Waters also made Mean Girls, so enough said.