Behind the scene: ‘Fred Claus’: naughty and nice

Christmas comes but once a year; it just seems like every 15 minutes. But if you’re one who likes their chestnuts roasted and their ho-ho-ho’s decked with holly, you’ll like ‘Fred Claus’, Warner Brothers new release.

Directed by David Dobkin, who handled the reins of ‘Wedding Crashers’, ‘Fred Claus’ is both less sharp and less funny — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t sugar plums in the pudding.

One of the big ones is Vince Vaughan, who plays the title role. Vaughan, with his patented staccato style, meshes nicely with Paul Giametti’s soulful – ‘I’m a saint, sweetheart’ — Nick Claus, the younger brother who always got everything right, including the red suit.

Older brother Fred just can’t live up to the legend, and Kathy Bates, as their mother, never tires of urging Fred to be more like his brother.

Family dysfunction like this leads Fred into going his own way until a sudden need for money sends him reluctantly to the North Pole for a hideous holiday combustion of a family reunion.

But he’s not the only one with problems. Brother Nick faces a shut-down of his North Pole operations when an efficiency expert, played with grim-reaper glee by Kevin Spacey, threatens to outsource Christmas to the South Pole. Will Fred help save the day? Is this even a Christmas movie?

While Vaughan and Giametti do an amusing job as the bickering brothers, while Bates quietly steals every scene she’s in as the mother who plays favorites, the rest of the cast languishes on the sidelines.

The always excellent Miranda Richardson is reduced to a one-note, nagging sister-in-law. Luminous ‘Mummy’ star Rachel Weisz has barely a cameo as the girl in Fred’s fractured romantic relationship, and long-time British actor Trevor Peacock as Mr. Claus doesn’t even rate a line. Now that’s downright naughty!

SUSAN JAMES of La Cañada has covered the Hollywood scene for 10 years.