By Katey Rich
Call me foolish and naive ("You're foolish and naive!" I imagine the entire Internet shouting back at me), but this trailer for Fred Claus actually made me excited to see the movie itself:
Something about the way Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughn interacted with each other made me believe they would pull out some dry comedic timing and turn Fred Claus into more than, well, exactly what you expect from a story about Santa's black sheep brother coming to visit during the holidays.
Well, call me foolish and naive: it is, in fact, exactly what you expect. No more, no less. Vince Vaughn comes to the North Pole, shakes things up a bit, dances with the elves, and eventually has to put on the big red suit himself. Vaughn's trademark sarcasm cuts the saccharine a little bit, but not enough to make this at all appealing to his usual target audience.
Vaughn is such a weird fit for a holiday movie too. The immediate comparison is to Will Ferrell in Elf, but Ferrell's lovable idiot routine fit perfectly into that story about a human elf come to live with his family in Manhattan. Vaughn, on the other hand, seems exactly the opposite of what you're looking for in a family comedy: he's quick-talking, brash, young and single, with no kids to look out for or provide an example for. He's perfect, yes, as a slacker relative, and is really good at the "Why are you all getting on my case?" defense. As the lead in a holiday comedy about the importance of family and--even more crucially--presents? That's about as realistic as Billy Bob Thornton as Santa, but at least with that one they had the sense to make it an adults-only film.
I love Christmas movies-- love them-- and admit that when I walked out into Times Square I wished it were a little chillier and jingle bellier out there. There aren't too many other Christmas-specific movies planned for this season, at least in wide release, but I still wouldn't count on Fred Claus being the big holiday hit. After all, when you've got A Christmas Story re-runs on TBS, what else do you really need?
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