It has been nearly 40 years since A Christmas Story began its reign of media saturation on the day of Christmas. The film is just one of the many family-friendly titles that end up being a big part of many people's holiday traditions. Titles like The Santa Clause, Jingle All The Way, and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer are the morally satisfying stories that warm our hearts on those cold winter evenings leading to the special day. But before you roll your eyes at having to go through the same old flicks, it is important to remember that not every Christmas movie is like an angel with a halo over its head on top of the tree.
While the typical holiday programming can be sufficient enough for some, there are definitely people that will feel the need to break up the monotony of the same old clichéd stories and find some flicks that delve into the wicked side of the holiday season. Some Yuletide movies are devilishly different than your run-of-the-mill Xmas features, and thus our gift to you is unveiling the most side-splitting Noel shenanigans Hollywood has ever dished out.
Here, in no particular order, are 8 of the raunchiest Christmas comedies that have definitely made Santa’s naughty list and will help you laugh your way through the chaos of the holidays!
Four Christmases (2008)
Let's face it, not everyone is super jazzed about seeing their family over the holiday season. Some of us just wish we could get away to an island paradise. Well, in Four Christmases, that’s exactly what Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon hope to accomplish. But when their flight gets cancelled, they are forced to take on the tremendous holiday odyssey of seeing each of their divorced parents in four different Christmases. The happy couple finds out all sorts of things about the other’s family life, some facts being stranger than others. From Vaughn’s childhood best friend being in a relationship with his mother to finding out his real name is Orlando (based on the city he was conceived in), there is no shortage of hilarious antics that go on during their Christmas vacation. This one will definitely make any family interactions you have this year seem like a walk in the park.
Office Christmas Party (2016)
Depending on where you work, the office Christmas party can seem more like a chore than a place to let loose. It is hard to get one’s party on at the same place they work and with their bosses right there to witness all the unthinkable things one does when too much special eggnog is imbibed. Well, if you ever sat at your desk, stared off into the wall of your cubicle, and wondered what the craziest Yuletide shindig would look like, look no further than Office Christmas Party. This film, starring Jason Bateman, T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, and Olivia Munn, has everything you can think of and more to throw the biggest holiday rager at your office. From reindeers drinking toilet water to jumping a car over a bridge Fast & Furious-style, the film shows you so many ways to party and that you cannot swing from Christmas lights (an important fact, everyone). Office Christmas Party will have you laughing so hard you’ll feel hungover the next day.
Bad Santa (2003)
The raunchiest of the entire raunchy holiday laugh-out-loud fests is without a doubt 2003’s Bad Santa. This film set the tone of the outlandish comedic antics during the spiritual Christmas holiday and is one of my personal favorites. Billy Bob Thornton plays a mall Santa that is the furthest thing from being qualified to spread holiday cheer. He is really a safecracker using the holiday gig as a con to get access to the mall’s sizeable holiday stash of cash. Besides being a criminal, he is also a degenerate drunk who can barely keep his composure and constantly lashes out at the children he's supposed to bring joy to. This comedic holiday heist caper, after all its debauchery, eventually ends up having a heartwarming ending… well, sort of.
A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)
The Bad Moms, AKA Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, and Kristen Bell, are all back in another crazy booze-filled, f-bomb-dropping, wild suburban adventure, but now there is a new twist. This time around, they are joined by a trio of very interesting ladies who happen to be the mothers of the notorious Bad Mom crew. These dastardly grandmas make the holidays very stressful for their beleaguered loved ones. This leads to an all-out battle for Christmas supremacy between the Bad Moms and Bad Grandmothers. Susan Sarandon, Cheryl Hines, and Christine Baranski are the 3 actresses tasked with bringing the ladies of holiday chaos to life. The thing that works really well for this entry is the cast’s great chemistry. The laughs are consistent throughout, and this sequel does a good job of standing on its own as a holiday film.
Fred Claus (2006)
The guys that brought you Wedding Crashers are here to bring you the story of what it means to be the sibling of a big-time celebrity. Imagine if you were the brother of Santa Claus, the most famous dude around the holidays. It is hard living in that shadow, and when Vince Vaughn’s Fred Claus is hard up for cash, he has to go work for Saint Nick at the North Pole. Paul Giamatti plays Santa Claus, and the 2 polar opposite brothers have a hilarious back and forth. Fred’s attempts at living the elf lifestyle are some of the best holiday humor ever, and Vaughn brings his signature unfiltered wit to the role. While this entry is the most outlandish on this list (and features an Oscar-caliber cast, including Kathy Bates, Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz, and Miranda Richardson), I truly believe anyone watching it will get plenty of laughs and bring in some that good old holiday cheer, probably.
Daddy’s Home 2 (2017)
Daddy’s Home 2 is about families coming together for the holidays and then competing to see who is the last dad standing, right? After the two fathers in the original learn to co-exist, they now have to endure the holidays with their fathers, so once again worlds collide on Christmas. Mel Gibson and John Lithgow play opposite sides of the cliché dad spectrum on a much funnier level than Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell accomplished in the film’s predecessor. A chainsaw almost decapitating a man, snow tubers cartwheeling down the hillside, and a little girl accidentally shooting her grandpa are just some of the seasonal antics this holiday flick has in store. The follow-up, while not entirely better than the first one, is definitely a solid holiday film to add to anyone’s whacky traditions.
A Very Harold Kumar Christmas 3D (2011)
The third installment in the epic Harold And Kumar saga is an adventure that once again sees the 420-friendly duo that is Kal Penn and John Cho in a sticky situation. Harold and Kumar haven't seen each other in a while, and the two are reunited thanks to a special marijuana Christmas present. This leads to a special tree grown by Harold's future father-in-law to catch on fire by accident. Now the stoner pair must set out to find a replacement. This stoner comedy is somewhat funnier than the first 2 chapters but can easily be enjoyed by newcomers to the ganja series. There's a good bit of Christmas weirdness in this one, and the return of Neil Patrick Harris is one of the greatest Xmas gifts ever given to a movie-going audience. You will not want to puff, puff, pass on this hilarious Yuletide gem.
The Night Before (2015)
The Night Before follows 3 friends who, bonded by tragedy, have always spent Christmas Eve together. And now that they have all grown up, it's time to move on from the sacred event. This all seems like it’s heading toward a sweet, heart-wrenching final outing for these 3 men. But that couldn’t be the farthest thing from happening, as Anthony Mackie, Seth Rogan, and Joseph Gordon Levitt go on a crazy odyssey on their way to the biggest Xmas party in New York City. The Night Before is one wild, drug-fueled ensemble comedy that is not only capable of creating some great laughs, but it has some solid performances from its main players as well, as a slew of high profile cameos from comedy's best. The comedic performance from Michael Shannon is, by itself, a solid reason to throw this one on during the holiday season. And the midnight mass scene is also definitely worth sticking around for.