Post by BIGFANBOY on Nov 9, 2007 8:24:49 GMT -5
FRED CLAUS
Review by Gary Dean Murray
I think that every actor wants to be in a Christmas film. Not only is it probably a feel good experience, but also it is because of the fact Christmas films will be played each holiday season from now to eternity. Every year we get It’s a Wonderful Life as well as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. A good residual payment system means a great Christmas bonus check forever. That has to be the only reason that so many Oscar nominated and awarded actors are in this retched piece of junk called Fred Claus.
The film starts many years ago with Fred Claus having a younger brother Nick born into his life. Where Fred is a good kid, Nick is a great one. With every good deed Fred does, Nick seems to best him. This builds resentment in Fred.
It is now centuries later and Nick is St. Nick aka Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti) and Fred is the bitter older brother. (Once you are a saint, you and your family live forever) Living in Chicago, Fred is a repo man who seems to keep the items repossessed. His meter maid girlfriend Wanda (Rachel Weisz) is past the point of exasperation with Fred. He promises her the moon but only delivers the green cheese.
Through a series of mishaps, Fred is arrested and has to call his brother for bail money. Santa’s wife Annette (Miranda Richardson) tells our beloved fat man to use tough love on his brother. So, Santa decides to help out Fred if he'll agree to come to the North Pole for the holiday season to help out in the toy making. Since Fred dreams of setting up an off track betting salon, he sees this as a way to generate the cash for his dream place.
Santa is having his own problems. It used to be that kids asked for one gift and that was something like health of an older relative. Now the kids are demanding more and more. Santa and the elves are getting more and more behind every year, barely making the December 24th deadline.
Unbeknown to everyone but Santa, there is an efficiency expert Clyde (Kevin Spacey) who has been sent by ‘the board’ to go over the North Pole work. Clyde’s report will decide if Santa can keep going or if the gift giving will stop altogether. There is this nefarious attitude Clyde has over Santa.
Fred is given the job of deciding who will be on the naughty list and not receive a present. He doesn’t seem thrilled about going over files. He causes chaos on the factory floor by playing Elvis tunes rather than Christmas music. His dancing antics put the elves behind schedule. Fred also finds that his parents are in town for a visit. Mom (Kathy Bates) still seems to have the softest part of her heart for Nick.
The film moral dilemma is--will Fred learn the Christmas lesson and will all the kids get gifts on December 25th morn. Along the way to the inevitable conclusion we are treated to a wishful romance between a shy elf (John Michael Higgins) and a number crunching assistant (Elizabeth Banks).
This little flick is riddled with every cliché every considered in a holiday film. The only truly cleaver part of the entire enterprise is when Fred goes to a sibling support group where he hears the testimony of some brothers of famous men. It is gut-laugh fun as these lesser-known brothers’ yell about being in the shadows. Simply stated, an inspired moment. But at over 90 minutes into the film, it comes too little, too late. Also it is almost the very end of the film where anyone seems to remember the actual meaning of Christmas.
Vince Vaughn is usually a funny guy but I’m beginning to wonder exactly what is going on in his career. With every step forward in his role selection, there seems to be some giant steps back. Almost every joke just plops off the screen, never making it to the first row. It is painful to watch him struggle with trying to make this unfunny script by Dan Fogelman work on any level.
By far, my biggest complaint about Fred Claus is the tremendous amount of wasted talent. This film is stocked full of Oscar winners and nominees, people who have proven their meddle on the silver screen. With the exception of Paul Giamatti as Santa, this cast is useless. Rachel Weisz, one of the strongest actresses of the last few years, is stuck playing a minor girlfriend role. Kevin Spacey, one of the most respected actors in Hollywood, decides to make his breakfast, brunch, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, supper and dinner on the scenery. I don’t know if they all just needed a holiday paycheck or if they have fallen from grace in Tinsel Town. Paul, out of everyone in the cast, seems to find a charm in his jolly old St. Nick, giving both the younger brother envy and affection.
Director David Dobkin never finds a handle on the script, never finds the funny from the words, actions or cast. He wastes everything he is given in a mad panic to be mad cap. (For the best example of massive failure of having an unsuccessful mad cap comedy see 1941.)
As far as a family comedy, this film will bore the little kids almost as much as the adults. Fred Claus is a movie that not only shouldn’t be watched; it should be avoided at all costs.
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