Fred Claus

Vince Vaughn mans Santa's sleigh and crashes it into the ground

By Matt Pais

Critic's Rating:

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Severely jealous Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) hasn't seen his famous big brother Santa (Paul Giamatti) since Fred left the North Pole for Chicago, but when he's hard up for cash, Fred returns to help Santa increase productivity when an efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) threatens to shut the whole jolly operation down. Elizabeth Banks and Ludacris co-star in thankless roles as Santa's assistant and DJ, respectively.

Big question: Can Vaughn's antics prevent this family comedy from becoming Hollywood's annual Christmastime lump of coal?

Skip it: Fred's trials in Chicago are at least passable--excusing his corny friendship with a neglected child--but once he goes north the whole movie goes south. Even if you can ignore the question of what "board" assigned the efficiency expert, why the Claus family still ages even if they can live forever and why the kids in the movie want hula hoops and bikes instead of iPods and Playstations, you're left with elves constantly fighting, Fred softening way too soon and Vaughn performing instead of acting.

Catch it: If, like Fred, you think it's smart to turn your girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) off the scent of her birthday present with hints about France--and then take her gambling on an Indiana riverboat. The payoff is supposed to be better than the tease, not worse!

Bottom line: Presenting Santa as a real person offers plenty of comedic opportunities--Is he sick of being jolly? Does he have sinful impulses? Was he ever afraid to fly?--but "Fred Claus" zooms right past naughty possibilities on the way to being nice. Not so nice is that the most important thing about Christmas appears to be gifts ... for English-speaking children only, based on Santa's sled hitting the U.S., London and then the U.S. again.

Bonus: Not surprisingly, "Fred Claus" informs us that Santa's first word as a baby was "ho." And now we understand why Ludacris is in the movie!

mpais@tribune.com