Fred Claus

Christmas 2019

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Kicking off this wonderful month of Christmas movies that I've chosen completely at random is a title that not a whole hell of a lot of people talk about anymore. Interestingly enough, I still remember seeing the first trailer for this air a whole year before its release, teasing something that held some promise of being very funny, so long as it was executed right.

It wasn't much, just two brothers having a casual chat on the couch, and one of them was Santa. It gave way to what could have been a very well done comedy, showing Santa in a much more casual light, perhaps behind the scenes of everything. However, come 2007, we all got something a little different.

The film starts a long time ago, when we see Mother and Papa Claus (Kathy Bates and Trevor Peacock, respectively) having the baby who would grow to become Santa, though here just named Nicholas (Theo Stevenson/Paul Giamatti). His big brother, Frederick (Liam James/Vince Vaughn) promises to be the best big brother he can be, but Nicolas ends up casting quite a shadow over him with everything he does, which ultimately leads him to become a saint and we all know the rest.

In present day, while Nick is being Santa, Fred has become a repo man who likes to steal what he repossesses. He's arrested, but calls Nick to bail him out. Nick agrees, but only under the condition that Fred comes to visit the North Pole and work off the amount of debt he finds himself in. Fred reluctantly agrees, with no real way out, but ends up causing more trouble than help.

Meanwhile, an auditor named Clyde (Kevin Spacey) comes to the North Pole to check things out, and with Fred on the cusp of ruining everything due to his antics, things aren't exactly looking great for Santa, the North Pole, or even Christmas as a whole. As one might predict, it all comes down to another plot about the unlikely hero having to save Christmas at the last minute.

I had seen this before, but I honestly remember liking it more than I did this time around. I think I was able to just have fun with its off the wall silliness the first time around. But this time, I didn't see it as much more than two bickering brothers the whole time, with Giamatti as one of the worst Santas I've seen portrayed. As mentioned before, the teaser trailer for this gave me a different idea of how Santa was gonna be executed, and it could have worked in a certain way. But to see a Santa lose his temper in such a goofy way, or even deliver some of his dialogue as a run down, tired old man, it just didn't work for me.

Although this manages to squeeze in some of that Christmas spirit, and give us a little more of that true meaning of the holiday, it's just not enough to save what is otherwise nothing but dated slapstick and rough CG superimposing on some of the elves (though I guess for 2007 it's moderately passable). Elizabeth Banks also makes an appearance as an eye candy elf, and not given much to do, other than be the object of a secondary character's affection.

The idea of an auditor at the North Pole makes no damn sense to me either. All it does is take the magic away completely, and we learnt hat this guy is out to ruin every holiday figure, and thus, childhood for everyone. It's a bit much, and it makes for a lot of guess work as to who this is really for. On one hand, it's very much a silly, over the top, slapstick kids movie. But on the other hand, there's too many grown-up themes going on, and they aren't exactly subtle.

I suppose it can be kinda fun if you're willing to check your brain at the door, but all in all, it's just another movie about an unlikely character saving the holiday from not happening. It's been done before, it's been done better, and there are a lot more movie Santas to choose from that are more convincing. To me, it's not really a surprise that this one doesn't exactly get talked about.

2/5

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