Fred Claus Plot Synopsis
Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn, Four Christmases) is born from a humble family a long time ago, and lives pretty happily in a house in the forest, with his mother and father. Along comes a portly baby brother one day, named Nicholas. As the years go by, Nicholas becomes the favorite son, due to his unending generosity and love for others' happiness (here's a hint, his first baby words were "ho ho ho"). This makes Fred jealous to no end, and he soon develops an animosity towards his younger brother.
As the briefly mentioned age-old rule in the film would have it, Nicholas Claus becomes sainted, thus turning him into Santa Claus. A fringe benefit of this contract, grants family and spouses agelessness, explaining their longevity. To this day, Saint Nick busies himself every Christmas with providing toys and happiness to children worldwide, while Fred takes residence in the normal world, managing best he can by resorting to a number of get-rich-quick schemes.
Present Day: Fred is desperate for money, and badly needs 50,000$ to put a deposit on a real estate location which he plans to use to set up an offtrack betting site, hoping to rake in the big bucks. Already having trouble with his on-again/off-again girlfriend Wanda (Rachel Weisz), and running out of time to make good on his latest scheme, Fred calls on his estranged brother Saint Nick (Paul Giamatti), to help him out, by lending him some much needed funds.
Nick/Santa, at the urging of his headstrong wife Annette (Miranda Richardson), asks Fred to come up to the North Pole, in order to help out and earn the 50,000$ he so desperately needs to borrow. Soon thereafter, Fred is immersed in the process of how the Christmas business of catering to the world's naughty and nice children over the course of one evening, occurs.
Not all is well, however, as a ruthless, devious efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) arrives at the north Pole, advising he will shut down Sanat and Christmas forever, should they not meet their usual expectations. With Fred helping out, they are all but doomed.
It is up to Fred to find a way to both redeem himself, his relationship with those he loves, and his estranged brother.
Fred Claus Overall Analysis
As a holiday movie, Fred Claus is pretty much a color-by-numbers kinda flick. Sure enough, the overall messages of redemption and second chances shine throughout the film, however they feel a bit forced. Is this perhaps due to Vince Vaughn's usual style of humor, which doesn't quite lend itself to a family-oriented film? Probably. Vaughn has made a name for himself, with rapid-fire sarcasm in projects such as Old School, and Wedding Crashers, among others. When pitted against a room filled with elves busily building toys and confections of all sorts, Vaughn comes off as a fish out of water, but not in the way the filmmakers intended.
It's hard to say whether the film was originally intended for adults, but veered towards a toned-down version (many scenes come off wrong, with characters suddenly saying "heck" instead of harsher words in the dialogue, when they could easily have done without), or if the script just wasn't suited to the material.
Either way, despite the overall message of cheer, acceptance, and the aforementioned redemption, Fred Claus fails to deliver, even though it has time to spare before the holidays. This film will certainly keep the kiddies busy at the sight of the awesome toy factory, and Santa's workshop rooms, but 'tis certainly no apt setting for any subplot for love stories or lackadaisical family issues.
Fred Claus DVD Extras
The film boasts very few extras, Scrooge-style, and merely offers a handful of deleted scenes (the only notable one being called "Candy Cane Montage", a tour of the different departments Fred tries his hand at), as well as a director's commentary, which doesn't come up as any livelier than its supporting cast.
5 out of 10 for bringing across the right holiday message, but at the cost of two hours of Vaughn sarcasm
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