What a weird-ass movie. It’s not really for kids, it’s not really for adults, it’s not really for anyone who enjoys Christmas.

| Jan 15, 2023

Paul Giamatti's seemingly inherent playful moroseness adds a delightful dimension to the saintly Nick.

| Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 8, 2020

Despite a great ensemble cast (which includes Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey and Rachel Weisz), this is one gift best left unwrapped.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 16, 2018

The biggest problem with Fred Claus isn't that it's not very good, it's that it pulls a bait-and-switch on parents expecting to see Hollywood's favorite bad boy in a film they can feel comfortable taking their kids to.

| Oct 12, 2018

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 18, 2011

It's no improvement on Bad Santa, or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, for that matter.

| Apr 28, 2011

Fred Claus will never go down in history as a holiday classic, or even one of Vaughn's better known films, but a sterling cast lifts up what could have been easy mediocrity.

| Original Score: 6.5/10 | Mar 22, 2011

A turbulent ride that shifts tonal gears and messages like oscillations in the weather, ending in mythological frostbite.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 26, 2008

Fred Claus is not an entirely bad picture, but it is a decidedly bland one.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 21, 2008

Vaughn's act may be toned down a bit, but he still plays the same fast-talking, quip-spouting arrogant schmuck that he usually does, and it wears thin real fast.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 20, 2008

Rather than creating imaginative situations for Vaughn to explore, director David Dobkin merely asks that Vaughn be himself, as if his personality were big enough to wring humor out of a comic vacuum.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 9, 2008

Unfortunately, this is a broad family comedy that depends on odd sound effects (zonks! splat!) during every scene...

| Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 4, 2008

Does it make me a Scrooge to suggest that this is one piece of holiday coal you should leave in your stocking?

| Original Score: 4/10 | Feb 28, 2008

Fred Claus won't make us forget "Rudolph," "Frosty" or even "The Santa Clause."

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 19, 2008

It is a joyless rehash of old plots and jokes. File "Fred Claus" under lump of coal.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 12, 2007

Paul Giamatti is forced to play Santa like a socially awkward version of Vince Vaughn

| Original Score: 2/10 | Dec 11, 2007

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

There are no laughs from the material, which wants to be edgy but can't go for broke because it's too busy being a trifling piece of holiday cheer but without the cheer.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 1, 2007

Fred Claus tries desperately for a Bad Santa meets Elf vibe. Five minutes in, the man sitting next to me was sound asleep.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 30, 2007

The actual effect of films such as this, however, is to put you in an entirely non-Christmas, non-joyous and non-charitable mood.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 30, 2007