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Fred Claus
R4 - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Stevie McCleary & Noor Razzak (17th January 2009). |
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The Film
 "Fred Claus", honestly, you know exactly what you’re getting from the time you hear the title. You know those films where they’ve somehow coerced a cast of talented people into something and it leaves you wondering, “With all this talent, why is this so bad? Where did it all go wrong?” Kevin Spacey, Miranda Richardson, Paul Giamatti and Vince Vaughan, so…why so bad? And the answer is…"Fred Claus" It’s all the fault of "Fred Claus": Diabetes – "Fred Claus" World Hunger – "Fred Claus" War – "Fred Claus" The girl that you totally thought was into you but it turned out she was just trying to make her boyfriend jealous and everybody seemed to know about it but you – "Fred Claus" Is it the paycheck? The big, fat, easy paycheck? Well…yeah. And also the chance to just pal around with mates for a couple months without really having to put in any effort. It must be pretty alluring as a concept. And this is the problem…for we must stop this destructive and wayward path. It must be halted. For this is the throwaway type of film that ceases being relevant fifteen minutes after it is finished. And it should have never been finished in the first place, so you can see the problem. Let’s see if I can muster my way through the plot. Fred (Vince Vaughan) is the brother of Santa (Paul Giamatti) and he’s always felt like second best. So he pretty much hates his brother and also Christmas. But he winds up disappointing his girlfriend and needing money, so he’s forced to work at Santa’s Workshop. At this point, you at home can play; take a Basic Family Comedy Plot Generator 2000 (i.e. – your brain) and fill in the blanks. I guarantee you’ve nailed it on the head. I guarantee it. Firstly (y’know, because I’ve been taking it so easy on them so far) the special effects are horrid. There’s nothing special about them at all, I’ve been tricked! The main problem is the elves. More to the point; the main elf. It’s a midget…with a super-imposed head of another actor on it. Um. You really trying to tell me no small actor had the chops to play this random character? And that you had to waste heaps of money animating a new head because of it? Terrible, terrible stuff there guys. On top of the insult to height-impaired folk, the CGI is jerky and off-putting. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something that poor in a film of this nature. Sure, I expect it from "Loch Ness Terror” (2008), but not from "Fred Claus"…wait. Nevermind. Vaughan brings his normal act to the plate, which is also a disappointment. Oh look, he’s a jerk one second and a nice guy the next – repeat and rinse every ten minutes. Not that I blame him for joining every other actor in simply hitting auto-pilot and taking a short nap, but hey. You’re the weakest link here, Vince. Goodb…sorry, outdated reference. Need to update the joke catalogue….just like you, Vince! *Ba Doom Pish~!* Ahhhh. Sigh. I’ll mention the one scene in the film that honest-to-Downey knocks it right out of the park – the celebrity brother support group. Here we have the real life brothers of a variety of famous stars….a Stallone, a Baldwin…I don’t want to spoil it because this movie is actually worth it for this one scene, I kid you not. “That’s not Alec!!!” So….catch it on the movie channel one day, it’s about halfway through the film. Otherwise don’t bother (wow, I’ve given away the ending of the review…makes sense; the movie here is completely transparent and obvious from minute one. I might as well be too). Back to things I have problems with; the whole premise of Santa Claus as reality in a film. It doesn’t work and it never works. If he’s real, and gives presents to all the good children (which in itself raises questions – who is he to judge? And in this film he states he can’t stand tough love…but what else do you call not giving gifts to ‘bad’ kids?) then how come adults never believe it’s true? Wouldn’t they notice gifts under the tree from someone other than them? As all Santa films eventually have a scene where presents are being delivered, we see lots of gifts going to people and you just have to wonder why nobody (other than the kids) seems to notice. Although most of the kids don’t seem to believe earlier…basically, in these films, Santa really needs a better press agent. Of course there’s always the chance I’m looking to deeply into something that is just supposed to be fun…but as it wasn’t that fun, I had to keep myself amused somehow. So…you already know my feelings on whether you should watch this movie in its entirety, much like how you already know whether Fred will achieve his road to redemption from the second you read the plot outline, so there’s no surprises left here. You know what to expect from good actors who aren’t being challenged – average work. This movie won’t kill you but you’d be best served by watching something (anything) else. …but seriously, YouTube/TiVO/DVR the one group therapy scene. Totally worth it.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this anamorphic transfer and overall it's a pretty solid effort. The image is sharp and consistent which is about right for such a recent film. Colours are excellent, vibrant and bold especially black levels and skin tones which look natural. There are a couple of instances which the skin tones dip towards the orange. There's some noise and light grain, but nothing too distracting.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround as well as an English Audio Descriptive track in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo for the visually impaired. The 5.1 track is pretty good considering this is a comedy, dialogue is clear and distortion free. The film's ambient sound is adequate, but there's limited surround elements so immersiveness is not really achieved. The film's music comes across well. Optional subtitles are included in both English and English for the hearing impaired.
Extras
Warner Brothers has released this film with an audio commentary and a series of deleted scenes. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a feature-length audio commentary by director David Dobkin. Here he is, he announces right off the bat, to ‘walk us through the film’. And indeed he is straight to it. Nice mention right off the bat that Fred’s dad is the narrator of the film in what were only supposed to be a temp track but they liked it too much. He goes into an incredible amount of detail along the way, discussing minor music tracks, set-ups, the genesis of the film, when different acts of the film have begun, etc. …basically a lot of detail. He seems like a nice guy and if you enjoyed the film you will really like the commentary. It’s of the kind that just talks non-stop about what’s happening, but in a way that actually tells you what you’d want to hear. Except he thinks the midget effects were well done. So he’s sort of deluded. 13 deleted scenes are also included: - "Nick Goes Caroling" runs for 1 minute 20 seconds, Fred fishes alone – exactly like it sounds. This is when they were kids. - "Extended Santa Chase" runs for 45 seconds, longer version of Fred being chased by street Santas. - "Elf Fight #1" runs for 45 seconds, secret service elves attack Fred. - "Fred and Willie In Bed" runs for 1 minute 53 seconds, Willie won’t stop talking to Fred who just wants to sleep. - "Candy Cane Montage" runs for 5 minutes 28 seconds, Fred tries to learn how to paint candy canes, as well as make eggnog, but just coerces the elves into doing it, putting them behind schedule. - "Guess Who’s Not Coming To Dinner" runs for 3 minutes 59 seconds, extended scene of Nick convincing Fred to come to the family dinner. - "Willie Brushes His Teeth" runs for 2 minutes 14 seconds, extended sequence involving Willie embarrassing himself at the bar and Fred trying to cheer him up. - "Elf Fight #2" runs for 1 minute 44 seconds, more of elves attacking Fred. - "Siblings Anonymous" runs for 2 minutes 5 seconds, precursor to the best scene of the film. - "DJ Donnie Alt. 1" runs for 1 minute 8 seconds, different music but practically the same scene. - "DJ Donnie Alt. 2" runs for 1 minute 8 seconds, different music again but practically the same scene. - "DJ Donnie Alt. 3" runs for 1 minute 8 seconds, different music yet again but practically the same scene. - "Ninja snowballs Alt." runs for 39 seconds, different cut of snowball fight between Nick & Fred.
Overall
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