Review of Fred Claus (2007) by Timothy S — 01 Feb 2012

If the dread of shopping, the music and spending time with the family isn't enough to turn you off Christmas, the glut of holiday-themed films surely will. I can't quite recommend "Fred Claus" either, but I did appreciate the fact that it's a lot more hip and sharp-witted than dreck like "Deck the Halls".

For that, you can thank Vince Vaughn and especially the inspired casting of Paul Giamatti as Santa. Vaughn provides some laughs and Giamatti is a lot of fun as well. The problem with the film is that is just plays it safe one time too often. I realize the screenwriters obviously needed for this to be a family friendly film and hopeful perennial favorite, and in all of that, they succeeded.

The cuteness factor just outweighs the edginess that the cast tries to bring to the proceedings. It becomes just another overblown, forgettable holiday film. There are some good one-liners, and Vaughn shoots them out so fast that you have to believe he ad-libbed a lot of them, and there are a couple of good moments.

I enjoyed watching the elves get down to Elvis and, in the film's best scene, Fred's trip to a siblings anonymous meeting with other lesser known brothers. It's a great moment. Not so great? The casting of Rachel Weisz in a throw-away role, and the ridiculous performance by Kevin Spacey as an efficiency expert wanting to shut down Santa's operation. I know there needed to be some conflict here, but this is just so dumb.

"Fred Claus" is a germ of a great idea, and thanks to the leads it does show some spark. It just can't quite follow through and close the deal.