Fred Claus Movie Review

Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) has it rough - he's the older brother to the saintly Nick "Santa" Claus (Paul Giamatti). Not only does his brother outshine him at everything, Nick's sainthood made the whole family immortal so Fred gets to be the chump brother forever. Ouch! Fred ends up living as a smooth-talking scumbag with a hate-on for Christmas, but a run-in with the law sends him scrambling to the North Pole just as an efficiency expert shows up to evaluate the holiday, and maybe shut Christmas down forever! Here's the holiday lowdown with our Fred Claus movie review.

Fred Claus - Merry Christmas?

The action gets rolling when Fred Claus gets into a 40-Santa fistfight and ends up in trouble with the law. Before you can say Ho-Ho-Ho, he ends up on the sleigh express to the North Pole, getting clobbered by Santa's elFBI goons and having to face the family he's avoided for more than 100 years. To make matters worse, Clyde Northcut, a Christmas-hating efficiency expert, puts Santa on a three-strike system - and if he blows it, Christmas will get shut down!

Fred Claus - Ho-Ho-Hilarious!

There's a lot to love in this holiday flick! From Willie's crazy sleigh-driving to Ludacris as a DJ elf, Vince Vaughn as a fantastic sleazeball, and a fun look at Santa's workshop , it's a real chuckle. There's also a great surprise with a brotherhood support group that has Stephen Baldwin (Alec Baldwin's brother), Roger Clinton (US President Bill Clinton's bro), and Frank Stallone (Sylvester Stallone's brother!) in a really funny scene. There's even a surprisingly cool holiday message about naughty and nice kids!

Fred Claus - Ho-Ho-Hum...

Most of the elves are cool, but a few - especially Willie and Ludacris's DJ Donnie, are creepy because their faces are added onto pint-size actors with computer-graphics. This makes their faces move strangely, kind of like they're sliding around. And Clyde Northcut (Kevin Spacey, Superman Returns) is supposed to super angry, but he ends up coming across as awkward instead.

Fred Claus - Bottom Line

Inside the Christmas wrapping, Fred Claus manages to be a fun movie. It even has a dose of brotherly love and a message about kids that's worth listening to. Even with a few weird CGI elves and a villain who doesn't seem all that evil, Fred Claus is worth watching.

Fred Claus Movie Rating:

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