Fred Claus

Every year there has to be a Christmas movie. It's the law. And usually the Christmas movie sucks. I present Deck the Halls, Christmas With the Kranks, The Santa Clause 1, 2 and 3, and Jack Frost . I dare you to challenge me on that one. I've even heard that Christmas movies are where actors and actresses go to die.

Fortunately, despite some reviews by the pundits, Fred Claus is actually not that bad. It stars Vince Vaughn as Santa Claus' brother. Fred grew up the older brother of Santa, played by John Adams, I mean Paul Giamatti. Santa is the carefree, jovial kid who has good intentions, but seems to be making life miserable for his older brother Fred, who's more down to Earth.


"Why can't you be more like your brother Nick?" This is what Fred heard all his life. Fred was never as good as Nick and resented his mother for all of the attention that Santa got. So Fred skipped town, only to struggle through life with bitterness and failure. Santa, meanwhile, went on to become the bearer of gifts on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile, Fred gets into a bit of a bind and needs money, which Santa agrees to give him if Fred agrees to come to the North Pole and work for it and help him get through the Christmas season. Fred agrees and the drama ensures.

To add to the fun, Kevin Spacey plays the mischievious accountant that works for the government who's inspecting the North Pole operations, which Santa must prove is in working order so that he can maintain control over this domain.

The movie is full of laughs, lots of site gags and slapstick humor. Vince Vaughn plays the best character that he knows - Vince Vaughn without the potty mouth. Fred Claus is rated PG for some mild language and some rude humor, per Netflix. It was decent enough that I didn't feel bad allowing my 6 year-old son to watch it.

The movie also stars Kathy Bates as the Claus' mother, Ludacris (who was hysterically midgetized), and Elizabeth Banks as Fred's girlfriend.

Overall I give this movie 4 stars. This is a great movie to watch with your family, which is important to do at the holidays.

It's A Wondeful Life

If you can believe this, I had never seen It's A Wonderful Life until last week. Yes, I know. It's un-American. What's wrong with me? What rock have I been living under? Whatever.

So I finally saw it. This 1947 classic features Jimmy Stewart, one of the most likable guys in this history of movies, plays George Bailey, just an all-around nice guy who helps everyone in town (as you would expect Jimmy Stewart to do). He has grown up and married Donna Reed's character, Mary Hatch Bailey. However, mean big banker Henry F. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, is out to crush Bailey.

If Barrymore sounds familiar, then know that he is the brother of actor John Barrymore, uncle of actor John Drew Barrymore, and great-uncle of Drew Barrymore.

Bailey starts to get frustrated with life and becomes a big ole' curmudgeon. When Bailey's uncle loses $8000 from the bank that they run, Bailey becomes so distraught that he contemplates suicide. He climbs up on a bridge, but before he can jump off, he sees an old man fall in. Bailey jumps into the icy waters to save him.

Finally in a safe warm place, Clarence identifies himself as Bailey's guardian angel. Bailey wishes he would never have been born, afterwhich Clarence grants his wish and Bailey must see what life is like without him ever being there.

Bailey doesn' believe what is going on, but no one seems to recognize him and he gets really frustrated. Even the local cops, Burt and Ernie (were the muppets named after a couple of cops from the movie?) do not recognize him and threaten to take him to jail for being insane.
Bailey gets so frustrated that he runs back to the bridge in the snow and declares that he "wants to live again!" Suddenly everything returns to normal and Bailey joins his family and they sing a horrible rendition of Ole Lang Syme.

The movie was directed by Frank Capra, who's known for other great movies such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It Happened One Night, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I give this movie 4 stars. The movie is 130 minutes long or just over 2 hours for those of you who cannot do math. It didn't quite have that sentimental appeal that I was hoping for, but it is classic story line that is often repeated. Or was the movie itself repeated from a classic story line? A Christmas Carol seems to have many of the same themes. Hmmm….