Fred Claus
Rated:PG
You know Vince Vaughn. And at this point in his career, Vince Vaughn knows Vince Vaughn. He knows that audiences won't accept him as a creepy psycho like he attempted in Domestic Disturbance and the remake of Psycho. They won't even buy him as a desperate hero as he was in The Cell and Jurassic Park: The Lost World. And this may not be because of Vaughn but because all these films sucked regardless of his performance. Either way, audiences know that for better or for worse, they can expect to see him as a fast-talking charmer who seems sleazy but actually has a good heart. In the case of Fred Claus, it's for worse. Fred is brother to Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti, looking tired throughout the film) and since Santa Claus is a saint, Santa's family and anyone who marries into the family, never ages. Fred has about four hundred years of hostility built up towards his famous younger brother but that doesn't stop him from calling to ask the big guy for $50,000 to build a casino. Santa offers to give Fred the money in exchange for working at the North Pole during the week before Christmas. This generosity is ill-timed as an efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) arrives with the threat to shut down Santa and outsource his operation. This odd blend of the recognizably magical with the cynically real never seems to work, although it does give the film its strongest asset in Spacey who shows that it's in supporting roles where he truly thrives (American Beauty being the exception that proves the rule) and Fred Claus is a film that needs all the help it can get because Vaughn is the wrong man for the job. The problem is that Vaughn's good-hearted-sleaze only seems to work when he's constantly paired with a romantic. Yes, he's good in Dodgeball and Old School but his humor pales next to Stiller's and Ferrell's, respectively. It's in Swingers and Wedding Crashers where he shines and that's because he's contrasted with someone who wants love where Vaughn just wants to party. It appeals to the target audience mid-20s, early 30s male who is torn between his bachelor lifestyle and his need to settle down. It doesn't work in Claus because Santa already has what he wants. Santa just wants to keep the factory open. Vaughn's schtick doesn't stick because there’s nothing to stick to. The film makes a half-hearted attempt to use the romantic-foil formula with a subplot involving an elf and Santa's Little Helper, but in a PG movie where Fred is trying to be a better big brother to Santa, you're not gonna hear a line like "That elf just eye-fucked the shit out of me." Despite the miscasting of its lead actor, Fred Claus is surprisingly tolerable (how I can damn a film with faint praise beyond that is beyond me). Spacey is hilarious and the film does have a funny and memorable scene involving other overshadowed brothers. And because he does have comic timing, Vaughn managed to make me laugh. But the difference between an acceptable actor and a good actor is that a good actor knows how to adapt where an acceptable actor sticks to what he knows and tries to do films that plays to a limited persona. The problem with Vaughn's persona is that it won't work as a one-man show. Words by |