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Reviews Counted: 132
Fresh: 29
Rotten:103
Average Rating: 4.2/10
Consensus: A slew of talent is wasted in this contrived and overly sentimental Christmas film, which can't quite get the balance between slapstick humor and sentimental family moments.
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Childrens
Theatrical Release: Nov 9, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $71,970,547
Synopsis: Sibling rivalry takes on a new dimension in director David Dobkin's (WEDDING CRASHERS, CLAY PIGEONS) third collaboration with actor Vince Vaughn, FRED CLAUS. Ever since his younger brother, Nicholas (Paul Giamatti), was born, it seems... [More]
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Elizabeth Banks
Director: David Dobkin
With not even its excellent cast to recommend it, Fred Claus is an ill-conceived, charm-less film that will delight neither youngsters nor their parents. From tedium to schmalz, the film tries to be all things to everyone, and succeeds in none
Top Critic Vaughn's act may be toned down a bit, but he still plays the same fast-talking, quip-spouting arrogant schmuck that he usually does, and it wears thin real fast.
Rather than creating imaginative situations for Vaughn to explore, director David Dobkin merely asks that Vaughn be himself, as if his personality were big enough to wring humor out of a comic vacuum.
Unfortunately, this is a broad family comedy that depends on odd sound effects (zonks! splat!) during every scene...
Does it make me a Scrooge to suggest that this is one piece of holiday coal you should leave in your stocking?
Fred Claus won't make us forget "Rudolph," "Frosty" or even "The Santa Clause."
It is a joyless rehash of old plots and jokes. File "Fred Claus" under lump of coal.
Paul Giamatti is forced to play Santa like a socially awkward version of Vince Vaughn
There are no laughs from the material, which wants to be edgy but can't go for broke because it's too busy being a trifling piece of holiday cheer but without the cheer.
Fred Claus tries desperately for a Bad Santa meets Elf vibe. Five minutes in, the man sitting next to me was sound asleep.
The actual effect of films such as this, however, is to put you in an entirely non-Christmas, non-joyous and non-charitable mood.
Fred Claus is in the grand tradition of a certain type of Yuletide farce - one that's about as funny as a crushed bauble in your egg nog.
The spirit of Scrooge surges strong within me having watched this chillingly cynical and unfunny Christmas movie.
Top Critic
DICK VAN DYKE had an excuse for doing a terrible Cockney accent in Mary Poppins – he is American. But how Brit Rachel Weisz can explain her “you wot” effort in Fred Claus is anyone’s guess.
It’s not exactly It’s A Wonderful Life, with Vaughn’s trademark blokeishness starting to jar, Giamatti strangely miserable and the laughs generally thin on the ground.
You'll have a better time if you spend Christmas wedged up a chimney.
This is one of those flicks that attempts to appeal to adults at a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, more salacious level while keeping the kids happy. It never really works.
More no no no than ho ho ho, Vince Vaughn's crime against cinema is a worthy winner of this year's Deck The Halls prize for least welcome Christmas present. Make no mistake: Fred Claus is the real Bad Santa.
Dobkin’s film is lit up by a couple of genius scenes: first, a siblings support-group attended by Frank Stallone, Stephen Baldwin and Roger Clinton; second, a superb in-joke triggering Spacey’s redemptive thaw-out, stoking a festive glow against the odds.
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November 15, 2007:
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November 11, 2007:
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November 08, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Fred Claus Fails to Spread Cheer; Lions Is Tame, P2 is Average Genre Fare
This week at the movies, we've got Santa's not-so-little helper (Fred Claus, starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti), geopolitics (Lions for Lambs, starring Robert Redford, Tom... More...
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