Fred Claus is the worst movie of the year and maybe the worst Christmas movie ever. Dobkin's "Clay Pigeons" was his first and last good movie and all he seems able to do is milk Vince Vaughn dry. He has no eye, no sense for pacing or plot, and a complete inability to keep a consistent tone. Don't just blame the writers. A better director could have done something with this idea. Like say Jon Faveau whose "Elf" Dobkin clearly saw one to many times yet somehow managed to learn nothing from beyond outright joke theft. "Fred Claus" has zero redeeming qualities. It's a jumbled mess that deserves to bomb big that suffers from all of the above as well as a general nastiness that is just no fun. On the other hand this is one of those dumps that makes you realize anybody can be a Hollywood filmmaker.
Review of Fred Claus
