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Reviews Counted:134
Fresh:28
Rotten:106
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
US 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,... [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 CriticClick to read the article
A turbulent ride that shifts tonal gears and messages like oscillations in the weather, ending in mythological frostbite.
Fred Claus is not an entirely bad picture, but it is a decidedly bland one.
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.
An archly mirthless comedy.
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 CriticDICK 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.
November 28, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Local Critics Warm To Changeling; De Niro Delights But What Just Happened Doesn't
It's Friday, there's a new raft of movies in the UK cinemas this week, but are any of them any good? This week the UK film hacks give us their opinions on Clint Eastwood's... More...
November 24, 2008:
RT on DVD: Fred Claus, Hancock, and 24: Redemption
The holidays are upon us, which makes it a perfect week to snuggle up with the superhero (Hancock), the spirited (Fred Claus), or the stealthy (Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer... More...
November 23, 2008:
Don't make the mistake of misreading this mean-spirited production as a kid-friendly Christmas flick. 
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November 22, 2008:
Vince Vaughn's famously rude Wedding Crasher gets macho with Ludacris as a m-igitalized feisty Santa elf, while huddling over the pint-sized urinals in the john with another, to clue him about North Pole dirty dancing and romance.
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Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
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