"Fred Claus" has an original concept for a Christmas movie, a rare commodity indeed. In this comedy, ol' Saint Nick (Paul Giamatti) has an older ne'er do well brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn), who feels, let's say, slighted, by his brother's good work.
Whilst Nick rules the North Pole, Fred is barely scraping by in Chicago as he struggles to keep his girlfriend (Rachel Weisz) and raise enough cash to open a gambling joint in Chicago's finance district. Santa, meanwhile, has problems of his own as he tries to please a fascist efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) from a never-explained holiday supervising committee. When a freshly jailed Fred comes to the North Pole, Nick's world is in trouble.
It's a funny film, and a sly take on Santa Claus being saddled with the same familial problems that almost everyone has. A climatic blow-up fight between Nick and Fred is particularly amusing, as is a Siblings Anonymous meeting with Frank Stallone, Steven Baldwin and Roger Clinton. But, as different as this Christmas movie is in its own genre, it's still just another viewing of Vaughn's endless take on the overgrown frat boy with a scam in his head but a sack of gold in his heart from director David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers"). Fred is a bore to watch quite frankly.
There still are plenty of treats in this stocking, though. Giamatti is a magical actor even behind a fat suit and a ton of makeup. Spacey provides a ruler-straight spoof on his boss from "Swimming with Sharks" and Lex Luther from "Superman Returns." (Superman figures in several scenes throughout.) But the hypnotic Weisz is the shining star here as she elevates a ho-hum role to steal the film, and reminds us why the recent "Mummy" film proved disastrous with her absence. B-
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