12 Reviews of Christmas - Fred Claus (2007)

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, we're going from Tim Allen to Vince Vaughn, as today for 12 Reviews of Christmas, we're taking a look at the 2007 yuletide comedy Fred Claus, directed by Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, and starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, John Michael Higgins, Rachel Weisz, Miranda Richardson, Elizabeth Banks, Kathy Bates, and Kevin Spacey. 

        So, the story goes that many years ago, the Claus family had two sons, Fred and his little brother Nick. Nick is extremely charitable, and creative in that he learned to shimmy down the chimney. And while his parents find this to be charming, Fred finds it weird, and feels neglected and begins to resent young Nick. As time goes on, Nick eventually becomes a saint, meaning that he, his wife, and his family are effectively ageless, and Nick becomes known as Santa Claus. 

        Fred, meanwhile, is a repo agent in Chicago, and is kind of a douchebag. Unable to truly commit to his girlfriend Wanda, and effectively living alone, with a neighbor kid named Samuel "Slam" Gibbons dropping in from time to time. Also, Fred is working with some slimy individuals to try and make money to open an illegal casino. So, what does Fred do? He poses as a charity Santa, and ends up getting into a brawl with actual charity Santas, landing himself in jail. And, with almost no one to turn to, Fred calls Nick, who agrees to bail him out, but for any additional money, Fred has to work for it at the North Pole. And, unfortunately, Slam ends up in an orphanage. 

         Fred is picked up by Willie, who is Santa's head elf, arrives and picks up Fred to go to the North Pole. Nick ultimately gives Fred a simple task: stamp kids' files either Naughty or Nice. All the while, Nick has to deal with an efficiency expert named Clyde Northcutt, who was sent by the agency that oversees all of the legendary figures, and is at the North Pole to give a three-strike assessment. Fred, meanwhile, gets into a tussle with DJ Donnie, who is pretty much playing the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" on repeat. And, not even a good version of the song, but an uber crappy version. Fred switches the song out for "Rubbernecking" by Elvis Presley, and the elves all start to have a party instead of making toys. Whoops. 

      Anyway, things for Fred go fairly okay, with Fred helping Willie get the courage to finally make a move on Charlene, whom he has feelings for, and Fred having to face his parents after so many years of avoiding them. Things at the North Pole also go awry, as Northcutt sabotages the files of kids' letters to Santa, and Nick tries to stage an intervention for Fred, who is blamed for losing the letters. Lastly, Fred sees Slam make the top of the naughty list, but realizes that Slam doesn't deserve to be there, and so stamps ALL of the kids' files as Nice, making it near impossible to deliver that many presents. This leads to a fight between Nick and Fred, With this, Northcutt give Nick the third strike, and shuts everything down at the North Pole. Fred gets his money, and a gift from Nick, and is sent back to Chicago. 

        Now, you may have noticed, some of this doesn't seem all that funny. In fact, a lot of the situation in the movie isn't, but it's more how both Vince Vaughn as Fred and Paul Giamatti as Nick react that makes it have some amount of humor. However, one scene that make this movie funny is where Fred attends a support group for people with more famous siblings, including the likes of Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, and Stephen Baldwin. After this meeting, and opening the gift of the a replica of the birdhouse from Fred's childhood (which was destroyed when Nick cut down the tree it was in), Fred has a change of heart, uses the money for the casino to make his way back to the North Pole, and galvanizes the elves to make enough toys for the kids to open on Christmas morning. But, to simplify toy production to meet the now high demand, Fred suggests making only two toys: baseball bats for boys and hula hoops for girls. 

        Fred goes to see Nick, who is bedridden from the earlier fight, and agrees to deliver the presents. Before leaving, Fred tells Nick something important: there's no such thing as naughty kids. They're all good kids, and the misbehavior is because of things like fear, going through bad situations, and the like. And every kid deserves to open up a gift on Christmas. Fred makes the rounds, sees Slam one more time with the puppy he wants, as well as some better advice than the advice he gave earlier, and makes good on delivering the presents all over the world. Unfortunately, Northcutt shuts the system off, leaving Fred flying blind. 

      Nick has one final confrontation with Northcutt, where it's revealed that Northcutt was on the Naughty list back in 1968, which was the year he asked for a Superman cape for a Christmas present. In an effort to make up for this mistake, and although it's a few decades late, Nick finally gives Northcutt the Superman cape he wanted as a kid. Ultimately, while Northcutt has a change of heart, he still reveals that Fred needs to complete the Christmas rounds or else the North Pole will be out of business forever. Luckily, Fred completes the rounds, every kid gets a present for Christmas, and Fred and Nick finally reconcile after so many years. Fred, meanwhile, gives up the lease on his apartment to move in with Wanda, giving her a teddy bear holding the French flag for Christmas, and then taking her on a sleigh ride to Paris. 

        So, what happens after a very hectic Christmas? Well, Fred and Wanda are back together, Slam gets adopted by a decent family, Northcutt works with the elves as an efficiency consultant, and Fred is back in speaking terms with his family. 

        Honestly, this isn't the best Christmas movie out there, but it's far from the worst. The humor, with the exception of the Siblings Anonymous scene, is pretty non-existent, and the movie makes its central character to be the most unlikeable sleazeball possible. Honestly, I have enjoyed the multiple actors in this movie. Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, John Michael Higgins, Elizabeth Banks, and so forth. Hell, I even enjoyed the work that director David Dobkin did on Wedding Crashers. But, the script for this movie just didn't work, and everyone involved with this movie honestly deserved so much better. But, like I said, there's far worse around the holiday season. But, unfortunately, I can only give Fred Claus a rating of 3.5/5. 

        Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and we'll be heading to the Hundred Acre Wood for 12 Reviews of Christmas as we take a look at Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year.