Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Fred Claus and Santa Claus have been estranged brothers for many years. Now Fred must reconcile his differences with his brother whom he believes overshadows him. When an efficiency expert assesses the workings at the North Pole and threatens to shut Santa down, Fred must help his brother to save Christmas.
Fred Claus is a formulaic holiday comedy that takes a mildly interesting premise—Santa's bitter, ne'er-do-well brother—and squanders it with a predictable sibling reconciliation arc and by-the-numbers Christmas-is-saved climax. The cast (Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey) brings more talent than the material deserves, keeping the acting a notch above the script. Visually it's competent but unremarkable holiday production design with no distinctive cinematographic choices. The sibling-rivalry-at-the-North-Pole concept has some novelty on paper but executes so generically that it doesn't distinguish itself from the crowded Christmas comedy field. The ending resolves everything neatly and predictably, offering no surprises.