On Screen

FRED CLAUS

Starring Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti. Written by Dan Fogelman. Directed by David Dobkin. (PG) 115 min. Opens Nov 9.

There is exactly one funny scene in Fred Claus, in which a Siblings Anonymous meeting descends into an agitated stare-down between Stephen Baldwin (playing himself) and Vince Vaughn (playing Fred Claus, resentful brother to St. Nick) while Frank Stallone and Roger Clinton look on. But when unexpected pseudo-celebrity cameos are the best a film has to offer, you know you're in trouble.

As directed by middlebrow hack David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers), Fred Claus veers desperately between irreverence and sentimentality, prodding holiday-flick conventions and acquiescing to them without much of a fight. Vaughn's bleary motormouth shtick has livened up plenty of movies, but like Robin Williams and Jim Carrey (and more recently Steve Carell) before him, he can't do much with a dispiritingly familiar part – the affable but self-absorbed dolt in need of redemption.

Anyone not expecting Fred to drop in on his brother (Paul Giamatti, trying hard) at an elaborately designed North Pole, get assaulted by ninja elves, get his dance on and end up 1) jeopardizing and 2) saving Christmas (in that order) probably hasn't seen the trailer. Anyone who's amused and/or moved by the whole ordeal probably hasn't seen too many movies.

ADAM NAYMAN

EMAIL LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM