Fred (Vince Vaughn) is the older brother of jolly old St. Nicholas himself (Paul Giamatti). The movie details exactly why Fred becomes estranged from his brother--Nicholas was clearly the darling of their mother's (Kathy Bates) eye. (Papa Claus--Treavor Peacock--just stands there throughout the whole movie and is a waste of space). So years later, Fred is living in Chicago. He loses his girlfriend Wanda (Rachel Weisz) and ends up in jail in one day and, while pleading with his brother for bail money, ends up agreeing to work at the North Pole for money to open a new business. Fred goes up to the North Pole, much to Annette Claus' (Miranda Richardson) dismay. He befriends Willy (John Michael Higgins) and Charlene (Elizabeth Banks) and shakes things up at the North Pole. For some reason, Santa appears to be part of a larger corporation who has sent Clyde (Kevin Spacey) to evaluate the North Pole's efficiency. If Santa fails, Christmas is cancelled. With Fred's misadventures and some underhanded prodding by Clyde, it takes a miracle to save the holiday.
The movie takes care to show why Fred is slightly justified in his feelings toward his family. In fact, if he had written to Dear Abby, I'm sure she would've told him to cut ties with them. And in an intervention scene, there is a moment where you watch them fight and think, "And they think Fred has the problems?" Wanda hits his problem though on the head but the family ignores it--he is afraid to let people love him because he doesn't have the self-esteem to. Santa in this movie is depicted as not knowing that you can do the wrong thing for the right reason (like chopping down his brother's favorite tree to be the family Christmas tree) or that someone is rarely naughty for the sake of being naughty. This was an interesting angle to take.
The movie is clearly supposed to be about Fred and Nick's reconnecting as brothers. I feel it fell far from this point. There are a few moments of brotherly interactions between the two, but Fred had a stronger relationship with Willie than his own brother. He comes back to help his brother out on Christmas Eve, but the feeling that they are reconciled is never achieved between Santa and Fred. This feeling is better between Annette and Fred as well as Wanda and Fred, but not so much where it matters. There is never really a scene showing them not fighting and just being two brothers until the very end, when Fred needs to save the day.
Vaughn does a good job balancing the comedy and dramatic as Fred Claus. He plays the goof-off with a heart of gold well, so this was up his alley. Giamatti was also a good choice as Santa, slightly neurotic yet still the kindly person we all imagine. Bates was spot-on as the overbearing and disapproving mama. Both Weisz and Richardson were severally underused in their roles, Richardson making the best of what she was given in every scene she was in. Spacey stole the movie as Clyde as did Higgins as Willie. Banks was good though she deserved some more costume than something ordered out of Victoria's Secret.
The movie has some cute scenes, particularly when Fred dons the famous red suit. Keep your eyes peeled at the Siblings Anonymous meeting--some famous faces related to even more famous faces play themselves.
So, for being almost cute and not great, for causing me to want to slap everyone in the movie, for underusing Miranda Richardson, for not clearing up certain things (like my sister yelled throughout the course of the movie: "WHY ARE THEY ALL STILL ALIVE?"), I give "Fred Claus" three candy canes out of five.
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