The film “Fred Claus” is a lot like its titular character.
Like Fred, this movie is loud, clumsy and makes a lot of bad decisions. And like Fred, this film will forever live in the shadow of its better, more famous siblings (Santa for Fred, and “The Santa Clause,” “Elf,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” for the movie).
But most importantly, “Fred Claus” is like Fred Claus in that they both try to play it tough, but ultimately reveal a big sappy heart.
According to this film, saints and their immediate families are granted immortality, giving Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) centuries to build up jealousy and contempt for his little brother, Saint Nick (Paul Giamatti).
Now I’m not a religious studies major, but that doesn’t quite sound right. What about the martyred saints?
I’d also like to quickly point out that neither Christianity nor Jesus is ever mentioned in the script, which focuses instead on Santa and giving presents. This doesn’t bother me, but it makes their brief discussion of sainthood pretty hilarious. One of the climactic moments of the film looks surprisingly like a Radio Shack ad set to a New Age rendition of “Silent Night.”
So when Fred needs some quick money to open a gambling outfit in modern day Chicago, he turns to Santa for a loan. Santa tells Fred he’ll give him the money on the condition he comes to the North Pole to help out this Christmas, hoping for some reconciliation.
Chaos and hilarity ensue.
Fred messes up the production line of droning elves with his madcap antics, while Santa struggles to keep things under control, as an evil efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) has been sent from “the board” to shut down Santa’s toy factory for being wasteful.
Inevitably, the whole thing ends with Fred saving Christmas.
While all this is going on, a surprisingly talented cast struggles to keep the film afloat. Kathy Bates, Rachel Weisz and Ludacris are among the supporting characters who are reduced to awkward cameos. And though Giamatti’s acting chops are well documented (see “Sideways”), he is better suited (no pun intended) to play Eeyore than Jolly Old Saint Nick. His Santa seems a little too tired and stressed to inspire much yuletide cheer. Likewise, Vince Vaughn plays a sentimental mush trying to act like a Vince Vaughn tough guy. How’s that for postmodern, right?
The film winds up in an odd mish-mash of wink-wink comedy and staged sentimentality, taking the family-brought-together-by-Christmas cliches and applying them to the first family of Christmas – no, not that first family of Christmas. I already told you nobody mentions Jesus.
“Fred Claus” has a long list of faults. I’ve tried to mention some of my favorites here but can only skim the surface in this brief review. But I enjoyed the movie for what it was: really campy, loud entertainment.
After all, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a big budget, family-friendly comedy about an underdog saving Christmas.
Wait a minute – it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet.
Kevin Corcoran can be reached at
