Sometimes something looks a lot better than it actually is when compared to its competition. Such is the case with
Fred Claus. This is a highly uneven movie that works in fits and spirts, and sometimes just seems to lose energy for long periods of time. It also suffers some severe tone shifts, and seems confused wether its trying to appeal more to adults or kids. And yet, the important thing to note is that it actually manages to work sometimes. That's more than I can say for some of the recent dead on arrival Christmas offerings of the past couple years like
Christmas With the Kranks or
The Santa Clause 3.
Fred Claus doesn't always work, but it has its heart in the right place, and a lot of good ideas. If these ideas were exploited even further, we'd be looking at one heck of a movie.
Ever since they were children, brothers Fred (Vince Vaughn) and Nicholas (Paul Giamatti) Claus have been at odds with one another. That's quite easy to understand considering Nicholas grew up to become Santa Claus, beloved the world over, and seen as a Saint who can do no wrong. Fred, on the other hand, is a Repo Man who is hated by just about everyone, and his relationship with the woman he loves (Rachel Weisz) is hanging by a thread. It can't be easy to be the brother of Santa Claus, especially when the holidays roll around. It's gotten to the point where Fred is forced to attend special support group meetings for less famous brothers of celebrities, and has to confide in the lesser known real life siblings of Sylvester Stallone, Bill Clinton, and Alec Baldwin. As Christmas approaches, Fred finds himself hard up for money, and is forced to turn to family. He travels to the North Pole, and offers his services helping out around Santa's Workshop. Family tensions immediately flare up, as Nicholas' wife, Annette (Miranda Richardson), thinks Fred is a hopeless case, and wonders why her husband even agrees to help. It doesn't help matters that a straight laced and cold efficiency expert named Clyde (Kevin Spacey) happens to be hanging around during Fred's visit, analyzing Nicholas' production methods and threatening to shut down the Workshop if he finds things are not up to speed.
Fred Claus is a movie that wants to be a lot of things, but at the same time, doesn't really know what it wants to be. It's a movie that veers wildly from adult-innuendo humor (Santa having trouble with the Mrs. is referred to as Santa being unable to "get his sleigh up".), Vince Vaughn's trademark motormouth ranting comic style, heartfelt sentiment, and childish slapstick humor that is accompanied by a barrage of cartoon sound effects that seem really out of place. This is a needlessly complex movie that is at its best when it is simply concentrating on the characters. The heart of the story revolves around the sibling rivalry between Fred and Nicholas. Here, the movie is sweet and winning. It never dips into the territory of mawkish melodrama, and although it may be a bit formulaic and simplified, there's no doubt I found myself caring about the characters during these moments. That's because the movie strips away the special effects, freaky elves (more on that later), and forced holiday cheer, and just lets the characters be who they are. I enjoyed these moments the best, and it seems that stars Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti did as well, as they have a likable chemistry together during these moments.
Unfortunately, it would seem that screenwriter Dan Fogelman (
Cars) has never heard of the phrase, "Keep it simple, stupid". He fills his script with so many ideas that he doesn't even seem to have time to explore them all. This is a real shame, because there are some good ones here. I was especially intrigued when I learned early on that when Nicholas Claus achieved Sainthood, it gave him and the entire Claus family the power of immortality. Now think about this for a moment. You're Fred Claus, you resent your family, but you're forced to live alongside them for eternity. You never asked for immortality, but you got it anyway because of your brother. How would this make you feel? How would you live your life knowing you were going to live forever? How would you even explain it to friends and loved ones who would obviously wonder why you don't age along with them? The movie avoids these tricky questions by ignoring them completely. Not once is the immortality brought up after it is established. When Fred's girlfriend discovers that he is the brother of Santa Claus, I kept on waiting for him to bring up the whole "immortal" thing, but he never does. I'd think that would be the first thing you'd want to talk about in a relationship. If I may offer some advice to Fred, he should start saving up some money now for the couples therapy sessions he'll have to pay for when his girlfriend starts aging, and he doesn't.
I would best describe
Fred Claus as a movie that has a lot of heart and good intentions, but not a lot of sense behind it all. Director David Dobkin (
Wedding Crashers) seems like he's constantly wrestling with the screenplay he's been given, which leads to the film's continuous shifts in tone. Some scenes seem targeted at children, while others aimed squarely at adults. There have been many family films that have been able to blend these elements effortlessly, but this movie has a back and forth manner that gives the movie a schizophrenic feel. There are also some elements that left me scratching my head, which brings me back to the freaky elves I mentioned earlier. Using the same technology employed in last year's failed comedy attempt,
Little Man, all of Santa's elves are played by midgets that have the heads of other actors digitally pasted on top of their bodies. This way, they can have celebrity cameos show up as elves, such as rapper "Ludacris" popping up as an elf Disc Jockey! (There's a sentence I never thought I'd have to type in my lifetime.) Fortunately, the movie does not rely on this gimmick very often, though it does give the film a somewhat uncomfortable creepy vibe when they have the head elf leering after Santa's buxom blonde assistant who shows quite a bit of cleavage for a family comedy. (I told you this film was schizophrenic.)
This review probably doesn't sound like the most ringing of endorsements, but it's actually not quite as bad as I've probably made it sound. The moments that do work in this movie work quite well. They're just surrounded by a lot of stuff that doesn't work at all. The end result is a highly uneven movie that I think will have a hard time reaching either adults or kids, since it doesn't even seem sure as to which audience to go after.
Fred Claus wants to have its cake and eat it too, but it simply winds up falling on its face. All this movie needed was a more focused screenplay, and a less gimmicky approach. Nicholas and Fred are interesting characters, and I think a great movie could be made about them. All it needs is less special effects and more direction.
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Sometimes something looks a lot better than it actually is when compared to its competition. Such is the case with Fred Claus. This is a highly uneven movie that works in fits and spirts, and sometimes just seems to lose energy for long periods of time. It also suffers some severe tone shifts, and seems confused wether its trying to appeal more to adults or kids. And yet, the important thing to note is that it actually manages to work sometimes. That's more than I can say for some of the recent dead on arrival Christmas offerings of the past couple years like Christmas With the Kranks or The Santa Clause 3. Fred Claus doesn't always work, but it has its heart in the right place, and a lot of good ideas. If these ideas were exploited even further, we'd be looking at one heck of a movie.
Ever since they were children, brothers Fred (Vince Vaughn) and Nicholas (Paul Giamatti) Claus have been at odds with one another. That's quite easy to understand considering Nicholas grew up to become Santa Claus, beloved the world over, and seen as a Saint who can do no wrong. Fred, on the other hand, is a Repo Man who is hated by just about everyone, and his relationship with the woman he loves (Rachel Weisz) is hanging by a thread. It can't be easy to be the brother of Santa Claus, especially when the holidays roll around. It's gotten to the point where Fred is forced to attend special support group meetings for less famous brothers of celebrities, and has to confide in the lesser known real life siblings of Sylvester Stallone, Bill Clinton, and Alec Baldwin. As Christmas approaches, Fred finds himself hard up for money, and is forced to turn to family. He travels to the North Pole, and offers his services helping out around Santa's Workshop. Family tensions immediately flare up, as Nicholas' wife, Annette (Miranda Richardson), thinks Fred is a hopeless case, and wonders why her husband even agrees to help. It doesn't help matters that a straight laced and cold efficiency expert named Clyde (Kevin Spacey) happens to be hanging around during Fred's visit, analyzing Nicholas' production methods and threatening to shut down the Workshop if he finds things are not up to speed.
Fred Claus is a movie that wants to be a lot of things, but at the same time, doesn't really know what it wants to be. It's a movie that veers wildly from adult-innuendo humor (Santa having trouble with the Mrs. is referred to as Santa being unable to "get his sleigh up".), Vince Vaughn's trademark motormouth ranting comic style, heartfelt sentiment, and childish slapstick humor that is accompanied by a barrage of cartoon sound effects that seem really out of place. This is a needlessly complex movie that is at its best when it is simply concentrating on the characters. The heart of the story revolves around the sibling rivalry between Fred and Nicholas. Here, the movie is sweet and winning. It never dips into the territory of mawkish melodrama, and although it may be a bit formulaic and simplified, there's no doubt I found myself caring about the characters during these moments. That's because the movie strips away the special effects, freaky elves (more on that later), and forced holiday cheer, and just lets the characters be who they are. I enjoyed these moments the best, and it seems that stars Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti did as well, as they have a likable chemistry together during these moments.
Unfortunately, it would seem that screenwriter Dan Fogelman (Cars) has never heard of the phrase, "Keep it simple, stupid". He fills his script with so many ideas that he doesn't even seem to have time to explore them all. This is a real shame, because there are some good ones here. I was especially intrigued when I learned early on that when Nicholas Claus achieved Sainthood, it gave him and the entire Claus family the power of immortality. Now think about this for a moment. You're Fred Claus, you resent your family, but you're forced to live alongside them for eternity. You never asked for immortality, but you got it anyway because of your brother. How would this make you feel? How would you live your life knowing you were going to live forever? How would you even explain it to friends and loved ones who would obviously wonder why you don't age along with them? The movie avoids these tricky questions by ignoring them completely. Not once is the immortality brought up after it is established. When Fred's girlfriend discovers that he is the brother of Santa Claus, I kept on waiting for him to bring up the whole "immortal" thing, but he never does. I'd think that would be the first thing you'd want to talk about in a relationship. If I may offer some advice to Fred, he should start saving up some money now for the couples therapy sessions he'll have to pay for when his girlfriend starts aging, and he doesn't.
I would best describe Fred Claus as a movie that has a lot of heart and good intentions, but not a lot of sense behind it all. Director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) seems like he's constantly wrestling with the screenplay he's been given, which leads to the film's continuous shifts in tone. Some scenes seem targeted at children, while others aimed squarely at adults. There have been many family films that have been able to blend these elements effortlessly, but this movie has a back and forth manner that gives the movie a schizophrenic feel. There are also some elements that left me scratching my head, which brings me back to the freaky elves I mentioned earlier. Using the same technology employed in last year's failed comedy attempt, Little Man, all of Santa's elves are played by midgets that have the heads of other actors digitally pasted on top of their bodies. This way, they can have celebrity cameos show up as elves, such as rapper "Ludacris" popping up as an elf Disc Jockey! (There's a sentence I never thought I'd have to type in my lifetime.) Fortunately, the movie does not rely on this gimmick very often, though it does give the film a somewhat uncomfortable creepy vibe when they have the head elf leering after Santa's buxom blonde assistant who shows quite a bit of cleavage for a family comedy. (I told you this film was schizophrenic.)
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