Sometimes I wish I worked at a revival-house movie theater. Anyway, here’s one: Exhibit A] About a Boy & Exhibit B] Bad Santa.
For all their differences in tone and style, both are comedies about an undisciplined, antisocial, underemployed and irresponsible layabout bachelor who hits a point of socio-economic and sexual rock bottom, bonds with a bullied prepubescent boy, and begins to develop a bit as an adult human being, as indicated by his beginning a real relationship with a decent, emotionally stable woman by movie’s end.
The two films aren’t perfectly parallel, although the only plot element that really sticks out as mismatched is the films’ resolution, when the “bad Santa” gets gunned down by the police while trying to deliver a plush toy elephant to his fat kid friend, versus Hugh Grant’s enjoying his widening social circle at a Christmas get-together.
But that’s only one really big difference. On the other hand, consider all the qualifying coincidences:
Both of these men make a living, sorta, on the strength of one of the cheesier aspects of Christmas: in A], Hugh Grant gets by just fine on the royalties from his father’s cringe-inducing song, “Santa’s Super Sleigh,” and in B], Billy Bob Thornton works his main gig as an abusive, drunken department-store Santa who loots the store after hours.
Both bachelors have an indolent, wretched lifestyle, as epitomized by their watching daytime television. Both men finally hit rock bottom in roughly parallel ways: in A], Hugh attends whiny support groups, pretends to be a single dad, and seduces lonely, needy single mums, and finally loses a promising girlfriend’s respect when the truth of his life comes out; and in B], Billy Bob bangs fat chicks, barflies and Santa groupies, and finally loses the respect of his partner in crime (a foul-mouthed midget thief) when his drinking gets out of control.
Both of these guys pity but try to avoid the young boy they end up befriending, and both intimidate the boy’s bullies: in A], by striking a threatening pose and in B], by beating the crap out of the leader. Also, both end up spending a lot of time with their boy buddy. In A], the kid is bullied by the boys at school for being a poor momma’s boy and ends up practically moving in with Hugh; in B], the kid is bullied by the boys in the neighborhood for being an introverted fat kid and ends up taking in Billy Bob as a permanent houseguest. Significantly, both of the kids are hampered by the crazy dame who is the only blood relative to figure in their lives: in A], the daft, culturally out-of-touch, suicidal single mother, and in B], the partly-senile[?], shut-in, mute grandmother.
Both men get tossed out of a favorite haunt in one scene: in A], when Hugh & co. are asked to leave a restaurant he frequents; and in B], when Billy Bob gets bounced out of a beachside bar.
Finally, both bachelors suffer repeatedly for trying to help their young sidekick. They reap a painful public humiliation while trying to help out their young friends: in A] by performing “Killing Me Softly” in a school concert to titters, laughs, boos and finally garbage aimed at his head; and in B] by teaching the kid boxing in a gym, only to draw groin injuries for all involved. They can’t even give the kids a gift without it blowing up in their face: Hugh Grant buys his friend a cool pair of sneakers, only to have the boy’s mother hysterically accuse him of having suspect motives in the aforementioned restaurant scene; and Billy Bob Thornton gets shot by the cops while trying to deliver his [stolen] gift to his friend.
Okay, what would be your weirdly similar double feature?