Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) has lived almost his entire life in his little brother's very large shadow. Fred tried, but he could never live up to the example set by the younger Nicholas (Paul Giamatti), who was just a perfect... well... Saint. True to form, Nicholas grew up to be the model of giving, while Fred became the polar opposite: a repo man who then steals what he repossesses. Now Fred's dirty dealings have landed him in jail. Over Mrs. Claus's objections, Nicholas agrees to bail his big brother out on one condition: that he come to the North Pole and work off his debt making toys. The trouble is that Fred isn't exactly elf material and, with Christmas fast approaching, this one bad seed could jeopardize the jolliest holiday of the year. Has Fred finally pushed his little brother to the brink? This time, what Fred may have stolen is Christmas itself, and it is going to take more than Rudolph to set things right.
This movie is to Vince Vaughn what Elf was to Will Ferrel. It is literally a holiday movie that is built around his personality. It enables him to be his talkative, sarcastic self in a holiday movie. I happen to think that Vince Vaughn is absolutely hysterical and I wasn't disappointed at all with this movie. The interaction with his mother and brother (Santa Claus) is awesome and there is a scene where he is in siblings anonymous with a bunch of brothers to famous people that was classic. Along with the overall funniness of the movie, there is also the gratuitous feel good holiday vibe going. The only problem I have with this is that I can't for the life of me figure out why Hollywood insists on releasing these movies so early in November. Its a shame that this movie will be long gone by the time Christmas comes around. I wish they would have waited until early December or something so that you could actually take in the holiday vibe more.
I fully recommend this movie to everyone. Its got some big laughs, makes you feel good, and plants the seed for you to get excited about the holidays.
