In Short:	Meet Santa's brother!
Recommended:	Not really.

NICK “SANTA” CLAUS:	I never realized. You hate me.
FRED CLAUS:	I don't hate you, Nick. I just wish you'd never been born.

If Santa Claus could sue everyone that has made a film that dragged his name through the snow time and time again for defamation of character (I’m looking at you, Tim Allen!), he’d no doubt hang up his ho-ho-hos and settle on an exotic island with the missus and all money he’s made, avoiding the melee of Christmas commercialism altogether. Unfortunately, he can’t. And yet again Hollywood thinks that if it can throw enough Oscar nominees at a project it will somehow cancel out the bad and make it worthy of a cinematic release.

Funnily enough, Fred Claus manages to portray Santa in a rather unique light, and Paul Giamatti gives an outstanding performance as the very stressed Santa. Adding great pathos to the character, he undoubtedly steals the spotlight. Pity I can’t praise the rest of the film, which promises you a Christmas tale you’ve never heard before, but turns out becoming a story you wish you had simply never encountered in the first place.

It’s not easy living in the shadow of a saint, Fred Claus (Vince Vaughn) discovers early on in life. No matter how hard he tries to please the parentals, his pesky do-gooder of a brother seems to always outshine his good intentions. Not only that but his mother, Mrs Claus (played by Kathy Bates), can’t seem to find the time to notice the good in Fred, now that she has a saint to look after. Fred quickly becomes angry with his brother, and that anger soon turns to hate and the hate sets him on a virulent path as a new age Grinch: a repo man. Finding himself in a bit of situation financially, Fred calls up his brother for a little helping hand. Over Mrs. Claus’ objections, Nicholas agrees to help his brother on one condition: that he come to the North Pole and earn the money he needs by working in Santa’s workshop. Only problem is that Fred isn’t exactly elf material and, with Christmas steadily approaching, Fred could ruin the jolliest season of the year.

Vaughn does inject a bit of charisma into the script, but his one-note performance here only holds the fort for so long. His trademark babbling soon becomes a tiresome and repetitive act. Kevin Spacey turns in a surprisingly dull performance as Clyde, an inspector who wants to see Santa’s entire operation shut down (he has already taken care of the Easter Bunny). Spacey stands out like a sore thumb, he’s completely miscast (there is, however, a nice little Superman Returns in-joke near the films' end). Director David Dobkin, who appears to be working on autopilot, never brings the interesting premise to any new depths, and matters aren’t helped much by quite a few dodgy and eerie looking CG elves, who taint the North Pole’s luscious set-design considerably.

Fred Claus may not be the worst Christmas film ever (I’m still looking at you, Tim!), but there’s little here to separate it from the ever-expanding stack of forgettable Christmas celluloid sleigh-wrecks that have come before it, and will no doubt continue to infest this holiday season.