Fred Claus (2007)
I'm a believer, 14 November 2007


*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Christmas comes early this year if you're a
fan of Vince Vaughn and/or Paul Giamatti,
both of whom turn in excellent performances
in the highly original and creative new film,
Fred Claus.

Vaughn, who plays the title character, is an
actor I usually don't care for. He comes across
as smarmy and one-dimensional in most of his films,
but here he's totally believable as the older
brother who grows up in Nicholas' shadow,
constantly berated by his mother (Kathy Bates),
who commits the unforgivable parental sin of
repeatedly uttering those angst-ridden words
of doom: "Fred, why can't you be more like
your brother?"

And what if YOUR brother were St. Nick, aka The
Big Man, aka Santa Claus? What if he resided
at the North Pole, where he had created a vastly
elaborate and dazzling Christmas Village, replete
with scores of helper elves, who turn out gazillions
of toys each year, to give out on that one magical
night to children all around the world? Tough act
to follow, even if you WERE the first born.

The movie deals with the ramifications of said
brotherhood in very creative ways, cleverly combining
the real life logistical elements of Being Santa with the
fantastical aspects of the job. There are scenes that are
played strictly for laughs, but there are also
sequences that are very touching, particularly
toward the end, where the film becomes genuinely
inspirational.

None of this would really work, though, if
the person playing Santa himself was not
convincing. But we have Paul Giamatti here,
don't forget, an actor who once again brilliantly
proves that he is capable of portraying anything,
in any fashion called for, with complete credibility.
His Santa is the best movie Santa I've ever seen -
warm, soulful and thoroughly human, with an
eating disorder no less. I may not believe in Santa
Claus, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt
that I wholeheartedly believe in Paul Giamatti.