Reviewed by Janina Conboye
Stars Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz,
Kathy Bates, Elizabeth Banks, Trevor Peacock | Written by Dan Fogelman & Jessie Nelson
UK certification PG | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 112 minutes | Directed by David Dobkin
Dare I admit that this movie brought a slight tear to my eye?!? Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn’t. This movie does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a cheery Christmas tale that highlights the importance of family with, of course, a moral to the tale; every child deserves a present at Christmas, even the naughty ones. But that is not an excuse for you naughty children to be even naughtier! It’s nothing out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t really terrible either.
Fred Claus (Vaughn) has lived his entire life in his brother's very large shadow. Fred tried, but could hardly live up to the example set by the younger Nicholas, who was just perfect and, well, a saint. Nicholas grows up to be the model of giving, our one and only Santa (Giamatti). Fred becomes the complete opposite: a fast-talking character who does repossesions for a living. Eventually Fred's bad behavior catches up with him, he is arrested and slung into the cells. His only option is to turn to his brother. Over Mrs. Claus' (Richardson) objections, Nicholas agrees to help his brother on one condition: that he goes to the North Pole and earn the money he needs, namely for a casino business, by working in Santa's toy shop.
The trouble is that Fred is far from elf material and not exactly cut out for creating toys and spreading Christmas cheer. With Christmas fast approaching and the efficiency assessor Clyde Northcut (Spacey) in town, Fred could jeopardise the jolliest holiday of the year and ruin Christmas forever. But, of course with this movie being sooooo predictable, we all already know that Fred will save the day against the Santa-hating mardy pants. This film is essentially for our young folk, but if you’ve been beaten into submission and have no choice but to sit down with your children, siblings, nephews and/or nieces and watch it, there maybe just enough to keep you ticking over.
The cast was surprisingly high profile, including Richardson, Weisz and Bates. And As Clyde descended from his big black helicopter (he hates reindeer), I was especially surprised to see Spacey. One thing I did find annoying is that Giamatti’s fat Santa make up was a little unrealistic. Especially the hands; they looked pretty naff, but the set of the North Pole with all it’s lights and bright colours made up for it. On the whole I’ve seen a lot worse, but it would take something really special to trump my all-time favourite, Santa Claus: The Movie. I mean come on, the candy sticks makes you fly!
EXTRAS ** Just an audio commentary with director David Dobkin (was he named after an elf?) and 13 deleted, extended and alternate scenes.