Fred Claus 2007

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Veers awkwardly from shrill, slapsticky physical humour to diabolical meanness (courtesy of Spacey as an efficiency expert) to reheated, snuggly sentiments about the importance of love and family. Read more

Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune: Fred Claus seems a clever installment, not a seasonal classic, a buffet whose many nibbles you sample, move on and quickly forget. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Like so many secular, big-studio Christmas comedies, this isn't naughty enough to be funny or nice enough to be uplifting. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Vaughn gets plenty of mileage exploring both the painful and fun sides of Fred. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Re-teaming with Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, Vince Vaughn plays the eponymous character, Santa's crankier and considerably less charitable older brother, while doing all the riffing his PG straitjacket will allow. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Bah. Humbug. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: [Vaughn's] naughtiness has never seemed so approachably nice. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Fred Claus turns out to be not bad for a Santa movie, which I suppose could be interpreted as either faint or excessive praise, depending on your view. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The movie's constantly shifting timbre takes some getting used to, and it's hard to escape the feeling that a whole lot of actors (Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates, Miranda Richardson) are wasted in a whole lot of roles. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: An insipid Christmas comedy. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: There's no more fleet talker flapping his lips with free associative aplomb than Vaughn, and he uses his edgy powers for good here. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: An amiable but awkward Christmas bauble that depends too much on charm substituting for timing. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Constructed like a rattling Santa sack of stocking stuffers, most of them plastic, doled out with little confidence about what adults want from a jingle-bell comedy (we want Elf!), and even less about what engages a kid (they want Elf!). Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: The eggnog quickly turns sour as the movie alternates between moments both heartwarming and bizarre. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: If you must haul the kids to yet another annual (per)version of A Christmas Carol, you could do a lot worse than this cheeky, modestly edgy caper from Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin and screenwriter Dan Fogelman. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: This movie takes a good thing and runs it deep into the ground, leaving behind a frothy trail of sentimentality. Read more

Steven Boone, Newark Star-Ledger: The satire on globalism and downsizing is also as old as the Clinton administration, but that doesn't stop director David Dobkin from selling it like fresh goods. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: About as funny as a sack of coal. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: There is more plot in the average Geico commercial, so the movie pads itself with detours into sketch ideas that don't develop past the basic concept. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Friend, you may find yourself wondering how we ever survived the holidays without a Christmas dose of Vince. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Freely mixing reality therapy, fairy tale and satire, Dobkin's film does not maintain a consistent tone. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The film's multitude of flaws might be more easily forgiven if the movie didn't overstay its welcome by at least a half-hour. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [Fred Claus] has apparently studied Elf and figured out everything that could have gone wrong with its fish-out-of-water Christmas fable. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Even though Vaughn knows how to build a pretty good performance out of little more than exasperated eye-rolling, he's just coasting here, and his scenes with Giamatti have no weight and no energy. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A complete bust, derivative and uninspired, boring and dull, not funny, not moving and about a half hour too long. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A pleasant little seasonal gift. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Fred Claus ends up closer in spirit to Eugene O'Neill than it is to Dr. Seuss. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It senselessly dims an idea that should shine as brightly as Rudolph's nose. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The movie is less ho-ho-ho than uh-oh, or oh-no. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Not a flake on the ground and we already have our first lump of coal. Read more

Jonathan Crocker, Time Out: Dobkin's film is lit up by a couple of genius scenes: first, a siblings support-group attended by Frank Stallone, Stephen Baldwin and Roger Clinton; second, a superb in-joke triggering Spacey's redemptive thaw-out, stoking a festive glow against the odds. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: As derivative and predictable as any of the holiday comedies of the past few years, providing audiences with at best a handful of laughs. Most of it is uninspired. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: The burden of having a famous sibling seems fraught with comedic possibilities, but whatever potential existed has been squandered and then some in Fred Claus, dumping coal into everyone's holiday stocking. Read more

Ed Halter, Village Voice: The exceptional cast -- Vaughn, Giamatti, Kathy Bates, Kevin Spacey, Rachel Weisz -- is an embarrassment of riches for a script this thin and this beholden to family-fare protocol, with its mushy-minded moral and slick sentimentality. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Vaughn's con-man jive doesn't get much play in this one; he spends most of his time as a bitter creep, and the writing (by Dan Fogelman) isn't sharp enough to make the hipster-at-the-North-Pole theme pay off in any meaningful way. Read more