Fred Claus

Vince Vaughn has made a career out of ruining Christmas.

It felt like the actors tried to make the best of a bad situation (aka script) and their talent brings a few shining spots to an otherwise bland movie. Kids may think it's real funny, but most adults will probably be bored with it. Vaughn does his fast talking/long monologue shtick, and it's kind of funny. You just can't help but remember all the times you've seen it done better in other movies.

I expected something like Elf, which was stupid but it was funny. But no, can only be stupid. Vince Vaughn is funny and has charisma, which almost guarantees the movie, but little by little, the story will losing, leaving the impression that could be better.

1

It's hard to go wrong when your hero is Paul Giamatti, antihero is Vince Vaughan and villain is Kevin Spacey. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Paul Giamatti is now my favourite Santa of cinema (sorry Tim Allen).

It starts out pretty weak but gets much better as it progresses. There are some eye-rollingly bad moments, but there are also some pretty great scenes (Kevin Spacey's Superman scene, I'm looking at you). It warms the heart, which is all I ask from my Christmas movies.

Fred Claus was not a good movie. The plot and message behind it were dumb. Vince Vaughn, who was at his heyday when this movie came out, is terribly miscast. He plays himself and it isn't enjoyable to watch in this movie. I feel bad for Elizabeth Banks. Kevin Spacey's character is the most compelling in the movie. I would not recommend this movie, even as a throw-away holiday movie it is terrible and the performances by some high quality actors is boring.

pffff...nothing special...

Massive, massive, massive, massive, massive, massive, massive, massive pile of shit.

Vince Vaughn is miscast in this.

What do you expect me to say about this movie.

#11#, popcorn, story, (casting)

charming, and entertaining. this movie, however, holds nearly no humor, and is ultimately forgettable. it also makes the fatal christmas movie mistake, it is only watchable around christmas time.

Better than I remembered. Some pretty funny scenes and a nice message.

While it has a lot of flaws, I enjoyed it. It was different than the normal Christmas movie, and I thought the actors did a good job. Its far from perfect, but I enjoyed it for what it is.

Vince Vaughn has a style of comedy that can be put to good use or can be hammered to the floor with a ridiculous holiday catastrophe like "Fred Claus." It wants to have the fun of "Elf," but Vaughn doesn't get to do much of anything here. The script is a complete mess. It may have worked better as a "Bad Santa" type than as family comedy.

Fred Claus certainly has some heartfelt and comedic moments and it is, for the most part, well-cast. Unfortunately, it feels irredeemably mean-spirited and most of the subplots and sentiment feel contrived.

Great - a Christmas movie for people who don't like Christmas! Although I shouldn't say it, I liked it (if you take it for what it is). Kids will think it's ok and there is some interesting adult humour too. So no surprises it's not Bergman but it's not meant to be. It's a light film aimed at kids around Christmas. On that level it succeeds and stays just the right side of syrup sweet.

kids movie

The 12-step program scene is actually somewhat amusing. But that's it. Kevin Spacey... why are YOU in this? Did you have a new house to pay for? A cocaine habit? Having trouble making blackmail payoffs?

The idea was good, I was drawn in by the trailer. But the execution was bad. Nary a laugh to be found.

Tree/birdfriendlaststraw+ludaelflol+gonnaoutsourcehim-toothfairy1tooth+shadowthatgrowsintheshadowofanothertree+marksallnaughtynice+frankstallonelolrecoveringsibling

The reason is simple. Fred Claus has an identity crisis. Director David Dobkin (who most recently assaulted moviegoers with the R-rated sex comedy Wedding Crashers) wants to deliver kid-friendly PG holiday sparkle but can't resist adding in all the cynical stuff that he thinks will appeal to adults, too. Translation? Vince Vaughn is overly long-winded in his typical, acerbic, fast-talking-con-man shtick. (pluggedin.com)

Anti hero movie. I like them.. but this is a pretty boring version of it.

Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti's talent is wasted here :( Meh Film

It's not as bad as the critics say, but it's still not recommendable.

I haven't seen the first ~30 mins and I guess I missed the "normal" (not christmasy) part of the movie.The part happening on the North Pole is really well animated and most of the time you can feel a Christmas spirit.The whole idea of a magic huge ball showing naughty and nice kids is good, as well as quarrels between brothers. It resembles the"Elf" in creating an atmosphere of unwanted X-mas relative (or "Bad Santa").The idea of final presents is... BAD,but at least it tries to teach something.

Normally Christmas movies are very good, but this one is an exception. Raunchy comedy actor Vince Vaughan tries to tackle a role in a family film, but he ends up being stiff-armed. I wouldn't advise this one for Christmas evening, watch It's a Wonderful Life or Home Alone instead.

It's actually not as bad as the critics say. Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn is worth the price of admission.

'Fred Claus' does okay in many ways. Its high production values and entertaining performances from Vaughn, Giamatti, Spacey and Weisz mean that purely as a Christmas movie it is relatively fun. It is a shame that the potentially fun concept is so poorly handled and the story just does nothing. Also hula-hoops and baseball bats for Christmas? What the fuck!?

Turn up an hour late and you'll see a good movie, might not make much sense though. Otherwise you have to slog through an hour or so of crud.

It's kinda funny... but the story fails to do much.

"A holiday fable far too safe and toothless to take advantage of Vince Vaughn's ribald strengths." - Nick Schager

There are a few good laughs in this movie and I do like the premise. However this movie gets to sappy near the end and ruins what could have been a good comedy.

Not Good Movie

A VERY ambitious Christmas movie that never seems to stay on track, but it doesn't fall off of it either. Vince Vaughn does his best Vince Vaughn impersonation throughout the film as Fred, the older jaded brother of Santa, whose financial troubles force him to re-connect with his Yuletide family. The film plays more like a dysfunctional family comedy than a straight Christmas film, but it has enough charm, heartwarming scenes and alluring set designs to overcome its silly shortcomings.

A pretty terrible movie that steals part of its premise from the Christmas that Almost Wasn't