The Archway

Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Variety

Ah, Christmas time. It seems to sneak up on us all earlier and earlier each year. Stores have their decorations up already, music is starting to play, and more importantly, Christmas movies are beginning to be released on the big screen. This leads me into my early Christmas review for the week, "Fred Claus."

"Fred Claus" is a comedy about two brothers named Nick (Paul Giamatti) and Fred (Vince Vaughn) who are about as opposite as a pair comes. Nick is an insanely generous man, while Fred is your average scrooge.

As you may have guessed, Nick becomes the man known as Santa Claus while Fred is less successful in all aspects of life. Desperate to make a living, Fred asks Nick to make a donation of $50,000 dollars to give him a jump start. Not being that generous, Nick makes sure that Fred works for the money at the North Pole, which is the beginning of a horrible family reunion.

Like most Christmas movies, "Fred Claus" seems to follow the typical themes of family, presents, and the reason for the season. What makes this movie different is the addition of a brother rivalry, which I found provided a nice creative twist to a classic story. The two characters play off each other really well and watching the two develop and learn from each other is actually fun and touching.

Where this story goes wrong is there are too many useless subplots that take away from Nick and Fred's story. There's Fred's relationship with an orphan, Fred's love interest, and the head elf's love interest with "Santa's Little Helper." All end predictably and all seem like pointless ways to throw another Christmas message at you.

Another little issue is that the movie isn't nearly as funny as advertisements make it out to be. It's not that big of a deal because I felt that it was as funny as the creators intended it to be, meaning most of the jokes were funny. It's a shame because it felt like the cast wasn't used as well as it could have been. There are, however, a few inspired scenes with some hilarious cameos.

One other thing I'd like to mention is how well Giamatti did portraying the role of St. Nick. Compared to Hollywood's most recent portrayal of Santa (Tim Allen), Giamatti adds a more classical look and feel to the role that just felt right.

In the end "Fred Claus," despite its efforts to be different, fails to rip itself away from the typical Christmas clichés. Pointless plots could have been left out and more focus should have been put on the relationship between Fred and Santa, which is where I felt the movie shined. If you're expecting a movie like "Elf," you may be disappointed, as it isn't as funny or as original. That being said, "Fred Claus" does have its moments and some funny actors backing it up. If you need a good Christmas flick to take the family to (brothers in particular), this movie could just be your holly-jolly fix. "Fred Claus" gets 3 Bulldogs out of 5.

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