Fred Claus

"The burden of having a famous sibling seems fraught with comedic possibilities, but whatever potential existed has been squandered and then some in Fred Claus, dumping coal into everyone’s holiday stocking."

"Vince Vaughn as Santa's black-sheep older brother. That sounded funny enough. But Fred Claus is a complete bust, derivative and uninspired, boring and dull, not funny, not moving and about a half hour too long. It makes a beeline for mawkishness at every turn, but all its emotions are unearned and false. This is just plain bad."

"Even though Vaughn knows how to build a pretty good performance out of little more than exasperated eye-rolling, he's just coasting here, and his scenes with Giamatti have no weight and no energy. There's some mild excitement when the two goad each other into a rambunctious snowball fight, but even that sequence devolves into listless, sloppy slapstick."

"Silly, heartwarming, and fun, director David Dobkin's new spin on the Santa tale is a great way to spend a decidedly PG-rated afternoon."

"A good idea but too long and not very funny..."

"You can practically smell the disaster and inevitable schmaltzy last-minute redemption coming in this by-the-books screenplay. Despite an interesting cast that also includes Kathy Bates, Trevor Peacock, Ludacris, and Elizabeth Banks, it's not merry..."