Fred Claus is a 2007 American Christmas comedy film produced and directed by David Dobkin, written by Dan Fogelman and Jessie Nelson, and starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.

Plot[link]

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The film begins in Middle Age Europe, where a woman gives birth to a baby. Within a few minutes of his birth, the baby starts saying: "Ho, ho, ho!". Mother Claus (Kathy Bates) calls her son, Frederick (Vince Vaughn) over to meet his new brother, whom she has decided to name him Nicholas (Paul Giamatti). Mother Claus lovingly refers to the new baby as her little Saint Nick, while Fred promises to be the best big brother ever. During Christmas, when Nick opens his gifts including Fred's, he decides to give them away to orphans which angers Fred. Mother Claus advises Fred to be a better person; this in turn causes Fred to resent Nick. Feeling isolated, Fred often meets a bird to confide about his problems. On one occasion, Nick cuts off the tree causing the bird to leave; this causes a permanent rift between Fred and Nick.

In the present-day, it is explained that when Nick eventually becomes a saint due to all his good deeds, he, Mrs. Annette Claus (Miranda Richardson), and his immediate family become frozen in time, never to age. Nick has become the modern-day Santa Claus, giving gifts to people and Fred runs a repo company to take them away. Fred goes to see his girlfriend, Wanda Blinkowski (Rachel Weisz), who gets mad at Fred for forgetting that her birthday was the next day. Wanda refers to a previous birthday where Fred promised to take her to France, but Wanda did not. Back at his apartment, Fred packs up when a young orphan boy named Samuel "Slam" Gibbons (Bobb'e J. Thompson) comes in. He talks about wanting a puppy for Christmas, but Fred tells him not to count on others for things. Soon after, an elf named Willy (John Michael Higgins) shows up to take Fred to the North Pole. We learn that Willy is the head elf, and has a crush on Santa's Little Helper, Charlene (Elizabeth Banks). Once Fred and Willy arrive at the North Pole, Nick welcomes Fred warmly and shows him around, including the naughty/nice room, which includes the top ten most naughty children. There is also a humongous snow globe in the room, where you can say any person's name and see if they're being naughty or nice. Fred asks to see Wanda, and sees Wanda talking to a guy on the street whom she gave a parking ticket to. While Fred starts working, Nick and Mrs. Claus introduced Clyde Northcutt (Kevin Spacey), an efficiency expert who has come to assess the situation at the North Pole. Further, if Nick and Mrs. Claus gets three strikes by Christmas, Clyde will shut them down. Later, Clyde walks in the workshop which is in a state of chaos because of Fred and says that Nick's inability to control his work staff is Strike #1. That night at dinnertime, Nick convinces Fred to come to dinner with their parents and Clyde. Sitting down to dinner, Mother Claus continues to praise Nick. Fred storms out and heads to Frosty's Tavern, where he meets Willy. Willy discusses his lack of self-confidence regarding Charlene, and Fred attempts to teach him to dance to the song "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones. However, Charlene enters the tavern just as Willy falls on his face, and Willy runs off embarrassed.

Later, when everyone else is asleep, Fred and Nick ends up fighting each other, which ends when Nick injures his back. Frustrated with Nick and the rest of his family, Fred unexpectedly leaves the North Pole with his $50,000, but Nick gives Fred a present to take with him. Fred waits until he returns home to open the gift, which is a birdhouse, a replacement for the one on the tree, and a note from Nick, saying that he is sorry for sawing down the tree. Obviously confused about his feelings, Fred enters into a Siblings Anonymous meeting, where he is joined with the brothers of certain celebrities and other famous look-alikes. At the end, Bill Clinton's younger half-brother, Roger, Jr., makes a speech about his brother's success. Back at the North Pole, it looks like Christmas is lost. However, before the deliveries should start, Fred shows up to help out and with Willy's help in the sleigh, Fred starts delivering presents around the world, but has to be back to the North Pole before sunrise. Fred immediately starts delivering toys with his help of Willy and the other elves. However, halfway through the night, Clyde sabotages their efforts. While Fred and Willy attempt to finish delivering the gifts for the children, Nick goes to talk to Clyde, realizing that as a child, Clyde did not get what he wanted from Nick. Fred manages to talk him out of his bitterness. The next morning, all the other elves wait nervously at Frosty's Tavern. Fred and Willy finally return to the North Pole and are successful in their efforts. With Christmas finally saved, Fred returns to Wanda's house, but Wanda is still furious with him. However, Fred feels renewed hope when he finds out Wanda never met the other guy for dinner, and gives her a present. Wanda opens it to find a teddy bear holding a French flag, implying that he is going to keep his promise to go to France. Fred and Wanda get back together and Charlene and Willy are now happily together. The film ends when Fred and Wanda meet Nick, Mrs. Claus, and Mother and Father Claus (Trevor Peacock) for dinner, showing that they have finally reconcile each other and come together as a family.

Cast[link]

• Vince Vaughn as Frederick "Fred" Claus
  • Liam James as Young Fred
• Paul Giamatti as Nicholas "Nick" Claus
  • Theo Stevenson as Young Nick
• Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Annette Claus, Nick's wife.
• Kathy Bates and Trevor Peacock as Mother and Father Claus, Fred and Nick's parents.
• Rachel Weisz as Wanda Blinkowski, Fred's girlfriend who is a parking enforcement officer.
• Kevin Spacey as Clyde Northcutt, an efficiency expert who has come to assess the situation at the North Pole.
• Elizabeth Banks as Charlene, a tall, blond elf whom Willie becomes enamored with.
• Bobb'e J. Thompson as Samuel "Slam" Gibbons, a young orphan boy that Fred mentors.
• John Michael Higgins as Willy, an elf whom Fred befriends and helps him to hook up with Charlene.
• Chris Bridges as DJ Donnie
• Allan Corduner as Dr. Goldfarb
• Frank Stallone, Roger Clinton, Jr., and Stephen Baldwin as themselves
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan (cameo) as unnamed man getting parking ticket.

Reception[link]

Overall, Fred Claus did not fare well with critics, resulting in a 21% rating at Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "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."^[3]

The film grossed $18,515,473 in its first weekend, and closed on February 14, 2008 with a final gross of $72,006,777 in North America and another $25,831,572 in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $97,838,349.^[2] The film became number 1 in the UK on its first weekend, bringing in £1.93m.^[4] It held the top spot for 1 week until being knocked off by The Golden Compass.

Home media[link]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2008 in the UK, and November 25, 2008 in the US. The special features includes 25 minutes of deleted scenes and an audio commentary by director David Dobkin. The Blu-ray release includes a music video for "Ludacrismas" by Ludacris in High Definition and also a bonus disc entitled Fred Claus: Race to Save Christmas.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Fred Claus at the Internet Movie Database
• Fred Claus at AllRovi
• Fred Claus at Box Office Mojo
• Fred Claus at Rotten Tomatoes
• Fred Claus at Metacritic