Blu-ray Review: Fred Claus

Release Date: November 25th, 2008
Running Time: 115 minutes

The Film

If you told me two years ago that Vince Vaughn would become a holiday film box office draw, I wouldn’t have believed you. His comedic style doesn’t seem like it would lend itself well to the joyous, saccharin nature of holiday films. Yet here we are two seasons later, and Vaughn now has two holiday hits under his belt. Fred Claus is the very epitome of a modern holiday film—a fun, formulaic ride but one that will be forgotten when the next season arrives.

Vince Vaughn stars as Fred Claus, a repo man in Chicago and overall sleazebag. He finds a great deal on a piece of real estate, but needs to make fifty grand by December 22nd. Charity-collecting Santas give him the perfect idea—he’ll dress up and collect the money for himself. Unfortunately for him, the other collectors find out about his swindle and get him thrown in jail. With no money for bail, Fred has to call on his brother Nick (Paul Giamatti) at the North Pole. Nick just happens to be Santa Claus. Employing tough love tactics suggested by his wife, Annette (Miranda Richardson), Nick bails out on Fred on the condition that he travels to the North Pole to help them prepare for Christmas.

Santa’s top elf, Willie (John Michael Higgins’s face digitally placed on a little person), brings Fred to the North Pole, and chaos ensues. Lacking the holiday spirit, Fred screws things up rather than helping. This is a major problem as an efficiency goon named Clyde Northcutt (Kevin Spacey) has been sent to write up a report on Santa’s operations. Nick only has three mistakes before he gets fired and everything is moved to the South Pole. Can Fred and Nick learn to put their differences past them in time to save Christmas?

Fred Claus falls into the traps that most holiday films find problematic. It has an original idea, but the execution lacks originality. Despite excellent production design and effects, the jokes and emotion remain stock. Vince Vaughn’s sarcasm-laden comedy can also seem tonally strange considering the material, but his interactions with Giamatti are definitely the highlight of the film. Neither a children’s film nor a more mature story, Fred Claus nevertheless manages to spark the holiday feeling as an entertaining, but flawed, effort.

The Disc

The video is presented in a 2.40:1, 1080p High Definition transfer. It features great saturated Christmas colors, and natural, though sometimes stylistically rosy, flesh tones. Fine detail is impressive, particularly in facial close-ups of the actors and the textures of the environments. Black levels are strong as well. The only problems I noticed were that grain and digital errors became more apparent in lower lit scenes, reducing the sharpness of the image.

The audio is offered in English/French/Spanish/Japanese/Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with English/French/Spanish/Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Portuguese subtitles. Unfortunately no lossless option is available, though I doubt the film would have benefitted from one as the audio experience is nothing exceptional. Decent, but basic, surround effects pan across the front channel. The rear channels, however, remain largely underused with the exception of bolstering the score. Dialogue is balanced throughout.

The Extras

Commentary is offered with Director David Dobkin. Unless you absolutely loved the film, I can’t see listening to this track. Dobkin has a lot to talk about, but most of what people are interested in is covered in the various featurettes.

“Vince and Paul’s Fireside Chats” are 4-minutes of basic Q&A with the stars. The clips were filmed for “Moviefone Unscripted.”

“Pause for Claus: Elves Tell All” is a throwaway 9-minute featurette with the elf actors remaining in character and discussing their work for Santa.

“Sibling Rivalry” is a 9-minute featurette that focuses on Vince Vaughn and three other actors who all have famous siblings.

“Meet the Other Claus: Behind the Scenes of This Winter Wonderland” is a 13-minute EPK featurette with the cast and crew discussing the plot and characters.

13 Deleted/Extended scenes run 25 minutes.

The “Ludacrismas” Music Video runs just under two minutes.

Finally, a Digital Copy of the film is provided, as well as a series of DVD games called “Fred Claus: Race to Save Christmas.”

Final Thoughts

Fred Claus is a standard holiday film, neither awful nor groundbreaking in any way. Like most holiday films, it has some chuckles and heart-warming moments, but is ultimately a forgettable experience.