Fred Claus, directed by David Dobkin, stars Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti, and is a comedy that falls just short of being a “hit” like expected.

The movie starts out with Miranda Richardson playing the Mother Claus and she is giving birth to “the largest baby I've ever seen.” Fred (Vince Vaughn) is the older brother watching from upstairs and his baby brother Nicholas (Paul Giamatti) is born. Fred makes a promise to be the “best big brother in the world.” Like many other movies, there is a jealous child that becomes rebellious to the family and becomes angry. Fred is that brother and as Nicholas becomes “Santa Claus,” Fred lives in Chicago, trying to keep his girlfriend and raise money for his future at the same time by creating the “people for the people” fund and nearly gets killed by the bell ringers of the Salvation Army. Fred asks his brother for help with the money and Nicholas makes a deal with Fred that nearly ends Christmas forever and teaches Fred a lesson that every big jealous brother needs to learn.

We learn from this movie that everyone deep down cares and has a heart for everyone. We learn that it takes the toughest of times to bring out the best of us and really show us the light. We make promises that we break but we can redeem ourselves in the end. This movie also shows us that our family will always be there for us no matter what we might say or do towards them.

This movie was disappointing to me. It was funny but not something I would run to see again. It reminded me too much of “Elf” starring Will Farrell, except “Elf” is way funnier. Vince Vaughn is funny but doesn't have anything on Will Farrell. The two movies are about a family member having to be brought back to “the North Poll” and they stick out like a sore thumb because they are giants compared to all these little elves. The movie had a good plot, and it's great for little kids, but other than that it was nothing special. Fred was a stupid boyfriend to his girlfriend Charlene (Elizabeth Banks) in the movie and he wasn't as funny as he thought he was. Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti) was a horrible pick for Santa if you ask me. He doesn't look like a Santa Claus at all and he just looks mean. There wasn't a time in the movie where I was completely drawn or hooked or laughing hard. A few chuckles here and there is all I heard, from the entire theater. I would give this movie a B-. It was good but it did not meet the expectations of the audiences.

Summing it up, Vince Vaughn failed to humor me and Paul Giamatti just isn't a Santa Claus figure. I think with better choice of actors this movie could have succeeded a little better. Realistically though, don't make promises you can't keep and don't mess with the Salvation Army Santas.