Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
11/11/07
I'm
a sucker for Christmas movies. There's something about the holiday
and the Hollywood imagery about giving, magic, redemption and flying reindeer
that totally hits me in a personal soft spot that wants to believe in some
sort of transcendent human goodness. And that's probably why I enjoyed
Fred Claus, an initially awkward holiday reunion of Wedding Crashers
star Vince Vaughn and his director David Dobkin. It gets off to a
slow, painfully unfunny start, but once it settles into its' tale of a
troubled North Pole family reunion that, yes, might just Save Christmas,
I was surprisingly moved. Of course, in the interests of full disclosure,
I also cried at the end of It Nearly Wasn't Christmas.
At
some point in the distant past, Mother (Kathy Bates) and Papa Claus (Trevor
Peacock) had two children: the older, Fred (played at different ages
by Jordon Hull and Liam James) lives in the shadow of saintly young Nick
(Theo Stevenson). In fact, Nick grows more and more saintly until
in some mysterious fashion, he ends up as Santa Claus and celebrates the
(unmentioned) birth of the Baby Jesus by handing out toys to Good Girls
and Boys each December 25. It's a little known fact (or truly awful
screenwriting shorthand) that not only do “True Saints” never age, but
their family and loved ones don't either, so in the present day, Fred (Vince
Vaughn) endures something between a perpetual adulthood and perpetual adolescence
as Santa's screwup brother. This is a particularly lousy holiday
for Fred, who's on the outs with his girlfriend Wanda (Rachel Weisz) and
short the money he needs to fulfill his dream of opening an off-track betting
parlor. Trying to con the money out of charitable donors lands him
in jail, and calling St. Nick (now Paul Giamatti) for bail lands him at
the North Pole to work at the family business during the holiday season.
It's a tough winter there as well: Nick is wracked with anxiety and
depression, head elf Willie (John Michael Higgins) is tortured by unrequited
love for Santa's Little Helper Charlene (Elizabeth Banks), and efficiency
expert Clyde (Kevin Spacey) has been sent on behalf of whoever puts up
the money for the whole Santa thing to evaluate shutting it down once and
for all. The family reunion is not a happy one, and everything Fred
does to try and change Santa's Workshop in his own image brings them closer
to disaster. What is Clyde's secret agenda? And can anyone
(wait for it...) Save Christmas?
Fred
Claus is riddled with plot holes and its' attempts at comedy are mostly
unsuccessful. The problem lies in trying to convert Vaughn's Bad
Boy image into something digestible by family audiences. Trying to
walk that tightrope between lovable loserhood and being the comic jerk
he's built his career on leads to a largely painful opening act, in which
Fred's Naughtiness is established at too great a length. Too typical
of major studio family fare, Dobkin goes to the pop soundtrack early and
often, and a sequence where Fred is chased through the streets and into
a department store by a mob of Santas is backed by Wacky Music standard
Surfin' Bird (you know: “Bird Bird Bird The Bird is the Word”) to
painful effect. Chemistry between Vaughn and Weisz, who's never a
good fit in these kind of Romantic Comedy Girlfriend roles, is non-existent,
and she actually seems kinda crazy when she suddenly interrupts his relentless
jerkiness by laughing and saying “I can never stay mad at you.” The
opening sequences with young Fred and Nick do a good job establishing their
sibling rivalry, but the whole notion of the Claus family as ageless and
eternal is downright weird, and the movie never makes an effort to show
Fred as someone who's actually been alive for over a century.
Things
start to pick up once we reach the North Pole, and the more we see the
extent of his immortal family's relentless Nick Worship, the easier it
is to sympathize with his attitude. Giamatti is smart casting as
Nick because his built-in frumpiness and self-deprecation make it possible
to still like the Ol' Saint no matter how often his odious Mother throws
his achievements in Fred's face. The ever-likable Higgins (CGIed
into an elf) makes a fun sidekick for Fred, and his efforts to get his
elfin pal to open up in hopes of catching Charlene's eye (there's nothing
to that role, but Banks radiates goodness as well as any actress working
today) are entertaining
Things
really catch fire, though, once the Fred Saves Christmas plot kicks in,
and the movie actually does have several things to contribute to cinematic
Santa Lore. ***HO HO HO, SPOILER ALERT!*** The special insights
Fred brings to the notion of the Naughty/Nice list are surprisingly poignant,
and I absolutely loved the energy the movie puts into depicting how hard
a person would REALLY have to work to get down all those chimneys, spread
out all those presents and, yes, eat all those cookies. Once Clyde
gets down to trying to Ruin Christmas, Spacey is sensational: it
would be easy to simply roll your eyes and chew scenery in his role, but
he really gives it his all and allows us to see surprising levels of relatable
pain driving his actions.***END OF SPOILERS. MEEEEEEERY CHRISTMAS!***
Across the board, the level of acting is higher than usual in this kind
of movie, and it helps to generate a lot of holiday pathos even when the
laughs are lacking. I liked the idea of a Santa who's lost (or maybe
was always missing) some of the innocence and joy of his enterprise; in
that way the story reminded me of the old Rankin/Bass TV classic Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer. As the story lines up emotional payoffs
one after another in the closing scenes, I blubbered like a baby (or like
me watching It Nearly Wasn't Christmas).
The
North Pole Dobkin is aiming for is one where people/elves have to roll
up their sleeves and work their butts off to make Christmas happen, so
anyone expecting comparable awe and wonder to that found in the Santa
Clause sequels will be disappointed. In general, the special
effects are just OK for this kind of enterprise, although I did like the
set design for the streets of Christmastown. As I mentioned,
the soundtrack is horribly overloaded with pop songs and Christmas standards,
although it does make good use of a Sinead O'Connor Silent Night
late in the game.
So,
in conclusion, Fred Claus has a lot of problems, and I also liked
it a lot. A bit of excessive Christmas charity toward a movie that's
in one of my many genre wheelhouses? Perhaps, but if you too still
find yourself in tears each time a Scrooge is redeemed or it starts magically
snowing in a TV Christmas episode, I highly recommend giving it a try.
Otherwise... you've been warned. |
