Leon's Review of "FRED CLAUS"

“I think the perfect guy to play Superman is Vince Vaughn.”

Whoa! Don't look at me, it's a quote from somebody else. That’s crazy, right? I do like Vince Vaughn and all--- I mean, I really, REALLY like Vince Vaughn and what he brings to the table. Remove him from movies like ‘Old School’ and they do nothing for me.
And I'm sure some might say "He only plays himself" -or a version of the ‘Vince Vaughn character’. That he’s always the same emotionally stingy, annoying loudmouth in every movie. But I beg to differ.
I see it as a chaotic likability that’s the perfect blend of Chris Tucker (obnoxious fast-talker) and Bill Murray (unaffected party guy). And truth be told, the more obnoxious he is the better I like it!

...But him as Superman? Not even a little bit. Outside of his height and looking like he never sleeps (from saving the world 24/7?), what connection could there possibly be? How could he pull that off?
Maybe if he was some other mythic character and you threw him together with some really talented, multifaceted character actor to be his straight man…I don’t know. Somebody like maybe PAUL GIAMATTI! Yeah. Then you’d you have a movie that there’s NO WAY I wouldn’t love, right?
Right?
…Hmmn…

Fred Claus (Vince 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 (PauI Giamatti) aka. “Santa”, who was just a perfect..well...saint. True to form. Nicholas grew up to be the model of giving, while Fred became the polar opposite: a fast-talking repo man who's run out of luck and money. Over Mrs. Claus' objections, Nicholas agrees to help his brother on one condition: that he come to the North Pole and earns the money he needs by working in Santa's workshop. The trouble is that Fred isn't exactly elf material and, with Christmas fast approaching and an evil efficiency expert ready to shut Santa Inc. down for good, Fred could jeopardize the jolliest holiday of the year.

Much like ‘Elf’ and ‘The Santa Clause’ before it, Fred Claus is another tale of Christmas legend meets real world physics and politics. Plus with the universal themes of sibling rivalry and the stress of Christmas family gathering, the story has everything going for it.

Yet somewhere in the middle it loses its momentum. Despite the chemistry between Vaughn and John Michael Higgins as the head elf, “Willie”, the elf gags start to wear thin and the family histrionics never quite dip into the level of Bravo channel reality shows like you hope.

Okay. Okay. So I didn’t LOVE Fred Claus…but I didn’t hate it either, which according to Rotten Tomatoes, I think I was supposed to.
I would imagine a lot of the disconnect for adult audiences is that we don’t get what I like to call “MAXIMUM VAUGHN”. That is, if ‘The Wedding Crashers’ is Vaughn set at ‘10’ (which means in ‘Made’ he’s at 12!) and in ‘Dodgeball’ he’s at ‘4’, then ‘Fred Claus’ give us Vince Vaughn at about ‘7’. It’s akin to the way “the crust was cut off” of Jack Black for School of Rock. It’s all about targeting a younger demographic to introduce to his style of comedy to. In one of the signature scenes Vaughn strongly channels his inner Bill Murray to lead the elves in a big infectious dance number that would even make the Grinch himself get his back up off the wall.

Watching Fred Claus the second time on DVD it becomes all-too clear that that was always the intention and I enjoyed the movie a whole better. I surprised critics didn't give it more props for an inspired scene where Fred Claus attends a Siblings Anonymous meeting with fellow under-achievers Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton and Stephen Baldwin.
Personally I don’t see how anybody could hate a movie with Vaughn’s charm, Giamatti’s chops, babes like Rachel Weisz and Elizabeth Banks prancing around in a tiny elf suit… and not to mention Superman.

Oh, did I forget to mention Superman?

No, Vince Vaughn doesn’t fly around in the blue & reds, but Superman is in between the lines and all over this flick. Think about it: Who is the second most popular resident of the Arctic circle? There’s a fly in to the North Pole scene that I would swear was taken shot-for-shot from Superman II! When I saw that the Fortress of Solitude flashed in my brain like ‘the Intersect’ on Chuck.

And the bad guy? None other than Kevin “Lex Luthor” Spacey...though to be honest, his "Clyde Northcutt” really feels like he’s Lex Luthor’s little brother.

Waitaminnit! When you consider the soliloquy he delivers about growing in the shadow of his own big brother, there’s NO WAY these connections are all coincidences.
The coup de grace is that it’s later revealed that the real reason Northcutt has a grudge against Santa Claus is because he got shafted on the one gift he wanted the most (ready for this?):
A Superman cape!!!!

Huh?
Huh? Am I right?

One thing that does puzzle me, though. Considering how much she's worked with Kevin Spacey lately (Beyond the Sea, 21, Superman Returns, ) I'm surprised that Kate Bosworth didn't get the role of "Charlene" rather than Elizabeth Banks.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you...

DVD EXTRAS:
Besides commentary by the director, David Dobkins, the DVD boasts wide screen AND full screen versions on the same disk, as well as a whopping 25 minutes of additional scenes! That’s basically another fourth of a movie.

Click here to buy Fred Claus.