FRED CLAUS" Holiday punch spiked with sour grapes

[avalon]

REVIEW:HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Fred Claus
Bottom Line: Holiday punch spiked with sour grapes.
By Kirk Honeycutt

Nov 6, 2007

Vince Vaughn is miscast in this off-putting movie.

With Santa Claus movies like "Fred Claus," who needs Ebenezer Scrooge?

Even more confounding than this mirthless, misanthropic mess is the involvement of such talented people as Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates and Kevin Spacey. Holiday films invariably perform well opening week, and the reunion of Vaughn with his "Wedding Crashers" director, David Dobkin, should give Warner Bros. a momentary holiday lift. It might not last long, though. One additional problem: Family films should not clock in at 115 minutes.

The gimmick in Dan Fogelman's screenplay (with story credit shared with co-producer Jessie Nelson) is that Santa (Giamatti) has a disgruntled older brother, long on the losing end of a sibling rivalry. So it's "The Odd Couple" with a Christmas backdrop as Fred Claus (Vaughn) is his brother's polar opposite: Santa gives; Fred, a repo man, takes away. Santa is cheerful; Fred hates the world.

Needing a chunk of change from Santa to get out of jail and start another get-rich-quick scheme, Fred agrees to visit the North Pole to work in his brother's workshop. His arrival nearly destroys Christmas.
Production designer Allan Cameron's North Pole set is the usual candy-cane concoction of an Alpine shopping mall on crack, but its denizens are a cheerless lot. Exactly how many dark personalities can a Christmas movie contain?

Let's see, there's Fred, of course, but he's the life of the party compared to Spacey's efficiency expert. The guy wants to fire Santa and outsource Christmas to the South Pole. Wearing dark-rimmed glasses and a suit so he looks like a demented Jack Benny, Spacey is one of many dark clouds.

Mrs. Claus (Richardson) barely tolerates Fred, Fred's own mother (Bates) only finds fault with him, his fiancee (Weisz) is on the verge of leaving him, and even Santa loses his temper and fights with his brother.

Nearly every actor seems miscast. Vaughn looks like he wondered in from another movie. Giamatti gets lost in his fat suit. Richardson has nothing to do but frown. Neither Weisz nor Bates can get any purchase on her character. And Spacey plays the only note given him.

The film isn't just not funny, it is off-putting. Some of the elves are played by little people, but others including John Michael Higgins and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges are regular-sized actors who are shrunk though visual effects. Nothing is stranger though than a superfluous scene in which Fred attends a Brothers Anonymous meeting where Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton and Stephen Baldwin share their angst over having famous brothers. Who thought that was a funny idea?

The Claus family confrontations are poorly written, the occasional slapstick action is weakly executed -- these look like warmed-over leftovers from Disney's "The Santa Clause" series -- and below-the-line contributions surprisingly mediocre for a Joel Silver production.

FRED CLAUS
Warner Bros.
A Silver Pictures production in association with David Dobkin Pictures and Jessie Nelson Prods.
Credits:
Director: David Dobkin
Screenwriter: Dan Fogelman
Producers: Joel Silver, David Dobkin, Jessie Nelson
Executive producer: Paul Hitchcock
Director of photography: Remi Adefarasin
Production designer: Allan Cameron
Music: Christophe Beck
Costume designer: Anna Sheppard
Editor: Mark Livolsi
Cast:
Fred Claus: Vince Vaughn
Nicholas Claus: Paul Giamatti
Annette Claus: Miranda Richardson
Charlene: Elizabeth Banks
Willie: John Michael Higgins
Wanda: Rachel Weisz
Mother Claus: Kathy Bates
Clyde: Kevin Spacey
DJ Donnie: Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
Running time -- 115 minutes
MPAA rating: PG

[Rita, Oh Yes!]

Errrghh, I expected this. But I'm still seeing it! I don't *care* how bad it is, nothing is keeping me away from a film in which Miranda is dressed up like a candy cane. No sir.

[Lane of Magic]

Ditto that! I’m looking forward to seeing this film – the only complaint I might have would probably be related to the small amount of screentime that Miranda’s character has got (but then again, that tends to happen all the time, and regardless of how long she is on screen). So it’s all good here.

[EarlyBird]

I still wanna see it, it has had a few bad but some really quite good, I have the draft script which I can tell has been changed alot. But really I can't wait to see her as Mrs Claus. And about her character always frowning I have seen more then one where she is smiling:)and anyway she is unhappy about Fred so what do they expect hehe:)but anyway can't wait.

[helen]

Films like this are very rarely applauded by critics. It's probably a good enough movie. If it is terrible, well, at least Miranda's in it.

[Libitine]

that.
SUCKS.
i am still going to go see it.

you know. . . i bet this was just a snyde reporter.
the whole article was very "glass half empty".

[tom]

Ignore this Ebenezer Scrooge critic. Both myself and Logan-a nine year old-found this movie very good. Yes I've seen it all ready and seeing puffball a week from Friday. So sue me. But yeah forget the critics-it's a good fun family film.

[avalon]

'Claus' naughty, not nice
By Chris Smith
Friday, November 16, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

In theaters

FRED CLAUS, directed by David Dobkin, written by Dan Fogelman, 114 minutes, rated PG.
The new David Dobkin movie, "Fred Claus," serves audiences one lukewarm cup of holiday cheer.

It’s reindeer roadkill, a movie filled with stale jokes and rote storytelling that nevertheless attracted an A-list cast, three of whom have won Academy Awards, two of whom have been nominated for said awards, and all of whom might just be Pod people because it’s difficult to believe that they agreed to do any of this.

Tell me, how do you suppose the film’s producers got Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Kathy Bates, Rachel Weisz and Kevin Spacey to sign onto this thing? Was it just the money they laid down (probably), or did the actors think that because Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton pulled off "Bad Santa," perhaps they also could do the same for "Fred Claus"? The movie, after all, stars Vince Vaughn in the lead. Maybe they thought it would be crude and kooky, but in a good way.

It isn’t.

Whatever the case, "Fred Claus" is day-old nog, with screenwriter Dan Fogelman taking the slimmest of premises and bloating it into a film that offers nearly two hours of comedic tedium. There are laughs here, but too many either are derivative or fall flat. Worse, you’ll find yourself waiting long stretches for each good joke to hit.

The film stars Vince Vaughn doing his best Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus, brother to Nicholas (Giamatti), aka Santa, whose fame and stature in the worldwide community has turned Fred into something of a grouch and a grinch.

He’s a schmuck of the first order, so embittered by the fame, adoration and sainthood his brother has achieved, he has gone the other way. Saddled with debt and stuck in jail, Fred finds himself in the sort of pinch that necessitates him going to the North Pole to help out the big guy for the big night of gift giving. This displeases his girlfriend (Weisz) and Mrs. Claus (Richardson), allows for his mother (Bates) to belittle him, smoothes the way for Kevin Spacey’s mean-spirited efficiency expert, Clyde, to try to undo him, and also allows for the two brothers to come to terms.

This is, after all, a family movie with redemption on its mind, which it unleashes in big piles of forced sentiment at the end.

To be fair to the movie, production values are appropriately garish, John Michael Higgins’ head does fine work while superimposed on a little person’s body, and there is one sly scene that hints at the sharp, inspired movie "Fred Claus" could have been. It involves appearances by Roger Clinton, Stephen Baldwin and Frank Stallone all bemoaning their fates at being siblings to more famous brothers. The scene has an edge, it’s funny and it comes close to the dark truth about brotherly rivalry that "Fred Claus" courts, but which it doesn’t have the guts to fully skewer and explore.
Grade: C-

[avalon]

More reviewsssssssssssss for me MANDA is the only reason I ll watch the film!!
SHE is superbe in any role!!!!!!!!!


Movie review: Not much to ‘ho, ho, ho’ about ‘Fred Claus’

By Amanda Brooks/Contributor


Paul Giamatti, left, as Nicholas Claus and Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus are pictured in a scene from “Fred Claus.” / Warner Bros.

The latest holiday story, “Fred Claus,” has a remarkably good cast for such a stale story: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates and Kevin Spacey. Three of them have won an Oscar or two, and two of them have been nominated for an Oscar or two. That’s pretty impressive.

So what are all these fine actors doing in a tired movie like “Fred Claus”? Money would be my guess — at least for Richardson (Annette Claus, Santa’s wife), Bates (Mama Claus) and Spacey (Clyde), none of whom have been in very many movies lately.

The set-up here is that many moons ago Nicholas Claus was born, and his older brother, Fred, could never compete with the saintly Nick for their parents’ affections. So Fred stopped trying. Then when Nick was granted sainthood, he, his parents and his brother were also granted immortality. So fast-forward a few hundred years, and Fred (Vince Vaughn) is working as a repo man and trying to raise enough money to open a casino across the street from the stock exchange.

Fred lands in jail after trying to compete with Salvation Army Santas. Needing bail money, he reluctantly calls his brother to bail him out, then has the gall to ask for money for his casino on top of the $5,000 he needs to get out of jail. Nick (Paul Giamatti) agrees but on the condition that Fred come to the North Pole and work for the money.

To complicate matters, Santa’s operation is apparently owned by some nameless organization that has sent efficiency expert, Clyde, to inspect, with the threat of outsourcing the operation if it isn’t efficient enough.

The plot develops in a predictable manner, offering no surprises or originality.

But this isn’t the worst thing about the movie. Most movies follow rather predictable plot lines:

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Romantic comedies: Boy meets girl, there are obstacles, boy gets girl.

Horror movies: Bad guy kills teenagers engaging in morally dubious behavior; virgin seems to kill the bad guy, but door is left open for innumerable sequels, etc., etc.

In the end, it isn’t how original the basic premise is, it’s how well and with what originality the premise is executed.

A predictable plot is one thing, predictable humor is another. Funny isn’t funny when you know it’s coming. Most of the attempts at humor in “Fred Claus” were too obvious, as if they were trying too hard: watching an elf tackle Vaughn’s 6-foot-5-inch frame; watching Vaughn dance on a table top with elves thronging around him in excitement; watching Santa lose it and attempt to run Fred over with a snowmobile; and watching Fred learn how to fly a sleigh and eight reindeer.

The lack of originality goes beyond the humor. Much of “Fred Claus” feels borrowed from other movies such as “The Santa Clause,” parts 1 and 2 (the advanced technology and the reality of other holiday figures, such as the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy), “The Year without a Santa Claus” (Santa being too ill and incapacitated to make his yearly rounds) and even “Miracle on 34th Street” (wherein a child led to believe Santa doesn’t exist gets proof to the contrary in the form of a specific and somewhat unusual gift).

One again, Vince Vaughn plays Vince Vaughn. Well, maybe not. I’ve never met Vince Vaughn, but Fred was like nearly all Vaughn’s comedy characters: fast talking and scamming. Either Vaughn has been type-cast, or he can only play it one way. Whichever the case, Fred seemed all too familiar. The only appreciable difference in this film was a lack of crudity. An effort was clearly made to make the movie family-friendly.

The one hint of originality, and consequently one of the movie’s funniest moments, was a scene where, now returned to his life in Chicago, Fred goes to a Sibling Rivalry Anonymous meeting. In a fabulous bit of novelty casting, Roger Clinton, Frank Stallone and Stephen Baldwin appear as themselves discussing the difficulty of living in the shadow of a famous brother. The scene is not only funny, but it provides the spark of epiphany for Fred, who realizes he’s been too focused on his own resentments.

Most of the other actors bring what life they can to the flat characters they have agreed to portray. Spacey’s Clyde is as cold and sinister, if one-dimensional, as he should be for a villain. His black clothes, black hair, black-rimmed glasses and black mood make him stand out like a lump of coal amidst the white snow and cheerful colors of the elf village.

Though Richardson plays Mrs. Claus a bit too pinch-faced, she is clearly coming from a long history of built-up resentment for the intrusions and stresses caused by Fred and Mama Claus.

Bates’ uncanny ability to be both innocent and smug while delivering a backhanded compliment leads the audience to fully understand exactly how Santa’s big brother could say to him, as Fred does, “I wish you had never been born.”

Rachel Weisz plays Fred’s long-suffering girlfriend. As cute, both in looks and personality, as she is, one can’t help wondering why on Earth it took her three years to dump this loser. Oh yeah, because he makes her laugh. Plus, as we learn from scenes involving him and a neighbor child, Fred may be misguided in his advice and his actions, but he clearly cares about children — he’s the proverbial “diamond in the rough.”

Yes, poor Fred. Deep down he’s a good guy — he just forgot.

Except, you’d think that after being alive for a few hundred years, he’d have gained some wisdom, some self-confidence, some clarity, if not reconciliation with his mother and brother. For someone who must be at least 400 years old — he is still such a child.

It would have made more sense for him to be world weary and cynical. In an early scene where Fred and a young girl argue over a television he is repossessing, there were hints that this take on the character could have been made. It’s too bad the director, David Dobkin didn’t pursue the cynical side of Fred. Perhaps doing so would have lent “Fred Claus” some depth.

(Rated: PG; One and a half stars out of four)

[helen]

avalon said:

(Rated: PG; One and a half stars out of four)

Oh dear. Doesn't sound very promising. It's out in the UK on the 30th of November, apparently. I have two weeks to bribe someone into seeing this with me.

[helen]

I saw the trailer while I was at the cinema tonight. The film looks OK. Miranda was featured quite a bit in the trailer, I think I scared my friend by having a slight fangirlish freakout whenever she came onscreen. On the plus side, afformentioned friend has agreed to see it with me.

[Morgause]

^{So what are all these fine actors doing in a tired movie like “Fred Claus”? Money would be my guess — at least for Richardson (Annette Claus, Santa’s wife), Bates (Mama Claus) and Spacey (Clyde), none of whom have been in very many movies lately.}

Alright, here he wasn't very kind... pretty rude indeed... and bad informed... Miranda has been in a lot of things has usually, maybe not the type of things he would see...
By the way, today on TV News here they showed some scenes from the movie for some random motive, I couldn't understand very well why because the article was about people who were working during Christmas... Weird, but at least I saw Miranda in it!!!!