'Fred Claus' is fun to watch
Director: David Dobkin
Rated PG
(Two Stars)
By Bruce Bulloch
The best movies are an ethereal alchemy of talent and skill, while the worst are a perfect storm of bad choices. But those films that find themselves in the undistinguished middle are sometimes not so much consistently mediocre as incomplete. They fire brilliantly on a couple of pistons, just not all of them.
So it is with "Fred Claus," the sentimental and sometimes funny tale of Santa's uneasy attempt at reconciliation with the family black sheep, Fred.
Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) is a fast-talking hustler whose silver tongue tends to run a step or two ahead of his better judgment. In desperate need of cash for his latest business venture, Fred decides to exploit the family trade and sets himself up as an illegal sidewalk Santa, scamming donations from shoppers. Fred is so successful he attracts the ire of legitimate Santas on the street and soon finds himself racing through a Chicago galleria with a band of angry fat men in red suits hot on his tail.
Anyone who's seen "Wedding Crashers" knows how perfectly suited Vaughn is for this role. As he revs up his motor-mouth he highjacks the scene and propels it through squirrelly riffs of humor. Whatever "Fred Claus" was meant to be, it comes closest to that goal when Vaughn opens his mouth. Even director David Dobkin's lackluster direction of the Santa brawl in the galleria acquires a certain elegance when Vaughn lends his soundtrack.
Thrown in jail and needing some bail money, Fred makes a reluctant call to his brother, Santa (Paul Giamatti). It's a wonderful conversation. Vaughn captures Fred's almost compulsive need to hustle a deal. In short order the conversation morphs from awkward pleasantries, past the request for bail money, to the bright idea that Santa should invest in his business.
Santa makes the requirement that Fred come to the North Pole and help out in the workshop in exchange for the money. When Fred shows up at the North Pole the plot slips into a predictable series of clich
