New holiday flick nothing to cheer about

Even funny-man Vince Vaughn can’t save this Christmas movie

By Justin Thurmond, staff writer
Posted on November 12, 2007

When November rolls, around it often brings with it a new batch of Christmas movies. Some are surprisingly good, while some just make you wish it was already the New Year.  “Fred Claus” tries to impress but falls hard into the category of bad Christmas flicks.

It begins with Fred Claus (played by Vince Vaughn, “Wedding Crashers”) as a kid overshadowed by his younger brother Nick Claus (played by Paul Giamatti, “Sideways”).  Nick is the caring, giving type; his parents couldn’t be more proud of him.  Fred doesn’t get the same love from Mother and Papa Claus and becomes an angry child, which in turn makes his parents love Nick even more.  Thirty years later, Nick becomes good ol’ Santa Claus while Fred is just Fred: your friendly neighborhood repo man.

After a bad split with his girlfriend Wanda (played by Rachel Weisz, “The Mummy”) Fred decides to go see his brother at the North Pole for some brotherly love – and $50,000.  The reindeer come to pick him up and off he goes to a snowy wonderland.  That’s when you should leave the theater too, because it is downhill from here on out.

The story is neither creative nor does it strike you as a nice holiday movie. The writing is horrible; it feels like you’re watching a Christmas after-school special.  There is so much drama and back-and-forth feelings going on it becomes hard to sit still and focus.  Most movies have a message of some sort between its action sequences or funny jokes. However, this movie attempts to shove its message down the audience’s throat in every scene.

The acting is the only saving grace of this monstrosity of a holiday flick. Vaughn is funny here and there and you can tell it’s all improvised.  Some scenes would have been awful if it wasn’t for his quick wit.  Paul Giamatti also delivers a great performance as Santa Claus.  He genuinely comes off as a caring and loving St. Nick.  Kevin Spacey has a small role in the movie but delivers a memorable performance as the generic bad guy who wants to shut down Santa’s workshop, all because he didn’t have the perfect childhood – like we couldn’t see that one coming.

Bad writing and too many messages bring this movie down. Vaughn tries his best but this movie was doomed from the start.  Not funny enough for adults and not family enough for kids, this movie will disappear after the holiday season. I just hope I don’t find a copy of the DVD in my stocking next year.